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CQEMRIGHT DEPOSm 



Cbrletlan Service Seriee 

r= EDITED BY r===r 

E. HERSHEY SNEATH, Ph.D.,LL.D. 

Professor of the Philosophy of Religion and Religious 
Education, Yale University 



CHRISTIAN WORK AS A VOCATION 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

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CHRISTIAN WORK 
AS A VOCATION 



BY 

HENRY HALLAM TWEEDY, M.A. 

Professor of Practical Theology, Yale University 

HARLAN p. BEACH, D.D. 

Professor of the Theory and Practice of Missions, 
En[ieritus, Yale University 

JUDSON JACKSON McKIM, M.A. 

Lecturer on Association Administration, Yale University, and 
General Secretary of the New Haven, Conn., Y. M. C. A. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1922 

All rights reserved 






Copyright, 1922 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1922 



Printed in the United States of America 






EDITOE'S PEOSPECTUS 

In many colleges and nniversities voluntary work in 
moral and religious education is done as distinct from the 
formal and often required work in Ethics, the Psychology 
and Philosophy of Eeligion, and Biblical Literature. This 
work relates more especially to the development of the 
moral and religious life of the student and his preparation 
for Christian service in the community. In many institu- 
tions it is carried on under the direction of the college 
or university Christian Association. It seems eminently 
desirable that a Literature specially adapted to this kind 
of college work should be available. The Christian Service 
Series is designed to meet this educational need. 

Furthermore, all of the great Christian Callings are 
increasingly recruiting their leaders from college men and 
women. Indeed, several of these professions practically 
secure all of them from college ranks. This makes it de- 
sirable, in fact necessary, that there should be a Literature 
explaining the nature of these Callings, the opportunities 
they furnish for the highest kind of service, the qualifica- 
tions necessary for success in them, and the imperative call 
to college men and women to supply the demand for 
efficient leadership in these various forms of Professional 
Christian work. Such a Literature would be used in dis- 
cussion groups in connection with the college or university 
Christian Association. The Christian Service Series 
makes provision for this need also. 

The following books are included in the Series: 

1. Fundamentals of Eeligious Experience. (To be 
arranged.) 

V 



vi Editoe's Pkospectxjs 

2. Student Problems in the Light of Christian Ethics. 

(In preparation.) 
Henry B. Wright, Ph.D., Professor of Christian 
Methods, Yale University. 

3. Porms of Christian Lay Service. (In preparation.) 

Henry B. Wright, Ph.D., Professor of Christian 
Methods, Yale University. 

4. Christian Work as a Vocation (Por Men). (Ready.) 

a. The Ministry. 

Henry Hallam Tweedy, M.A., Professor of 
Practical Theology, Yale University. 

b. The Poreign Missionary's Calling. 

Harlan P. Beach, D.D., Professor of the 
Theory and Practice of Missions, Emeritus, 
Yale University. 

c. The Young Men's Christian Association. 

Judson Jackson McKim, M.A., Lecturer in 
Association Administration, Yale Univer- 
sity. _ 

5. Modern Christian Callings. (Por men.) 

a. Biblical Teaching in School and College. 

Irving P. Wood, Ph.D., Professor of Biblical 
Literature and Comparative Religion, 
Smith College. 

b. Executives for Church Enterprises. 

Dwight H. Day, B.A., Secretary of the Board 
of Missions, Pressbyterian Church. 

c. Social Service. 

William Bailey, Ph.D., Eormerly Professor 
of Practical Philanthropy, Yale University. 

6. Vocations for College Women. (To be arranged.) 

E. Hershey Sxeath. 



PREFACE 

The two books entitled ^^Christian Work as a Voca- 
tion" and ^'Modern Christian Callings" aim to acquaint 
the reader with the nature and opportunities of the lead- 
ing Christian Callings and the personal and educational 
qualifications necessary for success in them. The work 
of these professions is so important for the individual and 
for society, and the demand for specially trained men is 
so great, that it is hoped these two books of this kind will 
prove helpful to young men contemplating some form of 
such service as a life work as well as to the organizations 
that represent these Callings in their efforts to secure 
recruits. These books are designed primarily for use 
among college men. ^^Christian Work as a Vocation" 
deals with the Ministry, the Foreign Missionary Field 
and the Young Men's Christian Association. ^^Modem 
Christian Callings" treats of Biblical Teaching in School 
and College, Executives in Church Enterprises, and Social 
Service. 

E. Heeshey Sneath. 
Yale University, Fehrimry 22, 1922. 



CONTENTS 

The Ministry 

Eev. Henry Hallam Tweedy, M.A., Professor of 
Practical Theology, Yale University. 

The Foreign Missionary's Calling .... 
Eev. Harlan P. Beach, D.D., Professor of the The- 
ory and Practice of Missions, Emeritus, Yale Uni- 
versity. 

The Young Men's Christian Association 

Judson Jackson McKim, M.A., Lecturer on Asso- 
ciation Administration, Yale University, and Sec- 
retary of the New Haven, Conn; Y. M. C. A. 



PAGE 



THE MIJSTISTET 
By 

Heney Hallam Tweedy 



CHRISTIAN WORK 
AS A VOCATION 

THE MINISTEY 

Contrasting Views of the Ministry 

PHILLIPS BEOOKS once remarked, "I pity the 
fellows who are not parsons." This exclamation 
sprang from no condescension toward other occu- 
pations. To Brooks's mind all honest work was a kind 
of divine service, all loving labor holy; and painter and 
physician, banker and bishop, carpenter and king ranked 
the same with God. But the work of the modern minister 
was so inspiring and so joyous, so magnificent in its op- 
portunities and so rich in its rewards, that in his big- 
heartedness he wished that every man might share in its 
gladness and its glories, and taste the fullness of the life 
that made his own cup of thankfulness overflow. 

In this testimony he is joined by a great company of 
witnesses. If any man had reason to be miserable as a 
minister, it was Paul. Slanders, plots against his life, 
shipwrecks, scourgings, stonings, and imprisonments 
might well make any man eager to sing the praises of 
another and happier calling. And yet the first great 
preacher of Christianity went jubilantly on his way, cry- 
ing, "Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel !" From his 
day to our own the lives of true ministers, men like 
Augustine and Luther and Wesley and Robertson and 
Spurgeon, have borne the same testimony. "There is noth- 
ing on earth comparable to it," said Dr. R. W. Dale to 

3 



4 The Ministry 

the Yale students. "Whatever genius you have, whatever 
learning, whatever native moral force, whatever energy 
of spiritual inspiration, will all find their freest and loft- 
iest service in the work to which you are consecrated." 
"I suppose I have had as many opportunities as any man 
here, or any living man, of what are called honors and 
influence and wealth,'' said Henry Ward Beecher to the 
same company. '^The doors have been opened, the golden 
doors, for years. I want to bear testimony that the hum- 
blest labor which a minister of God can do for a soul 
for Christ's sake is grander and nobler than all learning, 
than all influence and power, than all riches." In spite 
of his hardships and sufferings in Africa, David Liv- 
ingstone found his work so full of joy and so rewarding 
that he once exclaimed, "I never made a sacrifice in my 
life!" "There is no other calling in which a man can 
make his life count for more than in the Christian min- 
istry," writes Dr. Charles E. Jefferson, of the Broadway 
Tabernacle. "In no other profession is the mind given 
so broad a scope for its activities, and in none other are 
there such rich and abiding rewards for the heart." An- 
other describes it as "the chance to have a share in real 
life — the whole of it, not some mutilated segment — a 
share in its joys and its sorrows, its problems and its pains, 
its hopes and its victories; the chance to have a part in 
every good enterprise of the common life; the chance to 
work in the laboratory of brotherhood, to stand on the 
vantage ground of the new order, to be a pioneer, a herald, 
a soldier of the common good." 

Yet the fact remains that when the ordinary college 
student faces the choice of a life work, the ministry is 
not the calling which he views as the greatest, and which 
he lays aside only because he is not talented enough and 
good enough to undertake it. On the contrary, he is apt 
to regard it very much as a certain small boy did, who 
dismissed the suggestion that he become a minister with 
the remark that he wanted to be of some practical use 



]^ECESSITY OF THE PROFESSION 6 

in the community. Many business men are inclined to 
look upon the calling with superciliousness. In their 
judgment the task of the ordinary minister is hardly "a 
man's job.'' To deliver two brief addresses on Sunday, 
give elementary instruction in morals to children, and 
visit the sick and aged is so easy as to be something of 
a sinecure. To be sure, as long as people are born and 
marry and die, some one must attend to the ceremonials 
with which society, with or without reason, has seen fit 
to invest such occasions. But these duties may well be 
left to the less vigorous and industrious males. They 
laugh at the quip of Sidney Smith, that human society 
is made up of three sexes — men, women, and ministers. 
By some the minister is supposed to be unreceptive to 
the newest truths of science and philosophy. As for busi- 
ness ability and hard-headed common sense, the popular 
impression is that the minister is impractical and vision- 
ary. In the novel and on the stage he is, as a rule, rather 
mercilessly lampooned. It is quite evident that if men 
who ought to know most about their own calling are 
right, the work of the ministry needs to be reinterpreted, 
and its character and opportunity brought to bear upon 
the brainiest and best of our young men. 

I. ISTecessity of the Profession 

Definition of Religion. In considering the work of 
the ministry one needs to note, first of all, the fundamental 
fact that the reason for the existence of the profession is 
the great experience of humanity which we call religion. 
To the student it is one of the most important factors with 
which he must reckon. In it he sees perhaps the deepest 
revelation of human nature, and certainly one of the 
strongest forces in the evolution of human society. To its 
adherents it is nothing less than the supreme value in 
life. Indeed, according to Jesus, in whom we see re- 
ligion in its noblest and purest form, it is life, life at its 



6 The Mixistey 

highest and best; not always a mystical experience, not 
merely a creed or a system of theology, but the absolutely 
normal life of the human organism. When Jesus de- 
fined himself, it was not in terms of the Logos doctrine, 
or the Virgin Birth, or the hypostases and essences of 
Athanasius. It was enough to say, "I am the Way, the 
Truth, and the Life." In attempting to make clear his 
mission, his most characteristic sayings are not such as 
remind us of the theological formulae which his followers 
built up around him. They are typified rather by such 
a word as, "I am come that they might have life, and 
have it abundantly." Paul follows his Teacher when he 
defines the religion he preached as ^'the life that is life 
indeed"; and Max Mueller rightly paraphrases PauPs 
conception of his experience as ^^the life of God in the 
soul of Man." 

Historically we run through a long course of develop- 
ment before we reach the purity and grandeur of this 
ideal. Fetichism, ancestor worship, priestcraft, strange 
conceits and horrid practices abound ; but such phenomena 
are only what was to be expected, the froth and foam 
of an advancing wave. Ethics has gone through a similar 
evolution from the conscience of the cave-man to the 
standards of Martineau. Astrology and astronomy, de- 
monology and medicine, alchemy and chemistry are close 
relatives. The old theological theories are no more absurd 
than the old geological theories, with their flat earth and 
solid sky, supported on the back of a giant, elephant, or 
tortoise. Great movements must be judged by their high- 
est achievements and ripest fruits, rather than by their 
rude beginnings, mistaken policies, abortive failures, ex- 
crescences, and diseases. Religion at its best is the only 
phase that is worth discussing; and in the eyes of all 
unprejudiced scholars that is seen most clearly and con- 
vincingly in the life of Jesus Christ. 

Importance of Religion. If this is true, then religion 
is simply the greatest thing in the world, the inestimable 



ISTecessity op the Profession Y 

treasure which all the world's a-seeking. The religions 
of the past and of the present are man's attempts to attain 
the fullness of life. These attempts, as has been said, 
have in part determined the course of history and molded 
the forms of our civilization. You cannot understand 
China without Lao-tze and Confucius. Brahminism and 
Buddhism have fashioned India. Mahomet's conception 
of life, present and future, fires millions of Orientals 
to-day. Japan has been described as a nation hunting 
for a religion. At the dedication of a Chinese Y. M. C. A. 
dormitory Count Okuma, the Premier as well as the 
founder and head of the liberal party, said: "The fatal 
defect in the teaching of the great sages of Japan and 
China is that, while they deal with virtue and morals, 
they do not sufficiently dwell on the spiritual nature of 
man; and any nation that neglects the spiritual, though 
it may flourish for a time, must eventually decay. The 
origin of modern civilization is to be found in the teach- 
ings of the sage of Judea, by whom alone the necessary 
moral dynamic is supplied." As for Christianity, it has 
written its records everywhere. The art galleries of Eu- 
rope are unintelligible without it. Modern music, through 
the work of such pioneers as Palestrina and Bach, may 
almost be called its gift to the world. Religion carved 
itself in the pylons of Luxor and the pillars of the Par- 
thenon, in the lace-work of Milan and the towers of 
Chartres. Literature is flooded with its spirit. Its marks 
are on the constitutions of our governments. It has been 
the well-spring of some of the world's most brilliant and 
impassioned oratory. Philanthropy, education, industrial 
development are all debtors for its inspiration and guid- 
ance. In the deepest sense it is the basis of civilization. 
This is not the place to prove these statements. They 
challenge denial. But whether a man be an atheist or 
an agnostic, an indifferentist or a zealot, religion is a 
force to be reckoned with. It is not a matter to be given 
over to ignoramuses and incompetents. It demands the 



8 The Mixistey 

attention, understanding, and loyal service of tlie keenest 
minds and greatest geniuses in all lands. 

Christianity, JSTow in the civilization of Europe and 
America, while we are interested in all religions as more 
or less perfect manifestations of this divine life, the only 
religion with which we are vitally and practically con- 
cerned is Christianity. In it are incarnated the virtues 
of all the others. If at certain times and among various 
folk it shares some of their faults, these are not intrinsic 
in the life itself. This is nothing more nor less than sin- 
cere and intelligent friendship with God and with Man, 
according to the teachings and pattern of Jesus. What- 
ever in creed or in ecclesiastical rite or in polity expresses 
and furthers this is good and necessary; the rest is non- 
essential or negligible so far as ^'the life that is life in- 
deed'' is concerned. 

The Church. In its course through the ages Christian- 
ity has overrun all its banks and flooded all regions of 
society. There is nothing in the social life of man on 
which it has not exerted an influence, nothing on which 
it is not at work to-day. l^evertheless the fact remains 
that the organization most indispensable for its existence 
and effectiveness, the main institution through which it 
functions, is the Church. Paul called this "Christ's 
body" ; that is, the visible and tangible human organism in 
which, for the most part, the Spirit of Christ lives and 
speaks and makes itself felt. As such the Church is of 
tremendous importance to the well-being of mankind. It 
is this which makes it indubitably the greatest public ed- 
ucator in morals. It is this which has led it to found 
most of our schools and colleges, and to exert such a mighty 
educational influence at home and abroad. It is the main 
supporter and director of all our philanthropies, — charity 
organizations, orphanages, hospitals, settlements, and the 
countless other forms of organized benevolence. It is the 
greatest power back of movements to eradicate the evils 
of our industrial situation, to better prison conditions, 



Necessity of the Profession 9 

further temperance, prevent poverty, blot out the social 
evil, and accomplish all political reforms. It has wrought 
the miracles of home and foreign missions. It is the 
guardian of humanity's supreme values, the leaven of the 
nations, the chief mediator of individual and social sal- 
vation, the one voice raised publicly and persistently for 
God. 

The Minister, With all the religious work done by 
laymen — and fortunately this is increasing — the leader- 
ship of this highest form of organized religion falls nat- 
urally upon the minister. It is not that he is the only 
priest and prophet in society. The titles belong to all 
believers who are fitted and willing to perform those 
functions. Men manifestly ordained of God are found 
in the business world and in the ranks of our editors, 
teachers, novelists, dramatists, social workers, and other 
professional men. England reckons among her seers John 
Bright and John Euskin as well as R. W. Dale and 
Charles H. Spurgeon, while our own land blazons upon 
the roll of her prophets of the Kingdom William Lloyd 
Garrison and Abraham Lincoln as well as Henry Ward 
Beecher and Phillips Brooks. But in the Church the 
supremacy in teaching and in administration belongs to 
the head-worker, and it behooves the world to see that 
this important position is given only to the best men. 
The health and effectiveness of any organization depends 
upon its leaders, and in none other is this leadership so 
vital as in the Church. The politician may conduct a vic- 
torious campaign in which he is far from being the ideal 
of his constituents. But the minister must in some com- 
pelling degree exemplify the truth which he preaches, im- 
part the divine life by a kind of spiritual contagion, and 
be, so far as in him lies, ^'an example to them that believe, 
in word, in manner of life, in love, in faith, in purity." 
Communal leadership, such as the Friends have tried, 
seriously limits both influence and activity. Ignorant 
leadership will deservedly reap contumely and scorn.. 



10 The Ministky 

Weak leadership means certain defeat. SelfLsh and for- 
mal leadership spells stagnation, while vicious leadership 
will inflict tragedy upon all that good men hold dear. 
When the leadership of the Church declines, the best life 
of the people declines. Witness the conditions during 
the dark ages and the spiritual depression of the eight- 
eenth century. One of the supreme needs of the world 
in this great crisis of history is a ministry manned by 
men who are equal to their task. 

II. Chaeactee ai^d Scope of the Woek 

(a) P readier. With this glimpse of the importance 
of the ministry in mind, we turn to the character and 
scope of the minister's task. Its breadth and glory are 
at once apparent. First of all, the minister is a preacher. 
He is the lineal descendant of the prophets of Israel and 
of all lands, the proclaimer of religious truth — indeed, 
of all truth in so far as it bears upon character. In this 
sense he is the modern spokesman for God. It is not a 
matter of writing cultured essays; there are enough of 
these in a multitude of magazines : or of delivering elo- 
quent orations ; these are not the things most needed, and 
no man can hope to prepare and deliver two every week : 
or of keeping a congregation sufficiently interested and 
pleased to rent pews and attend services, though this is 
necessary, and to be uninteresting is the pulpit's unpar- 
donable sin. It is nothing less than the presentation of 
^'truth through personality," as Phillips Brooks defines 
it, with such persuasive power as to mold and transform 
men. The preacher not only proclaims truth; he glows 
and shines with it, radiates it, and so far as in him lies 
incarnates it. The whole man as well as the message is 
involved in the sermon. In the deepest sense the man is 
the message. We delight to read the volumes of Beecher ; 
but only those who listened to the words as they poured 



Character and Scope of the Work 11 

forth from his lips and felt the magnetism of that great 
soul really heard Beecher preach. 

To preach, then, is one of the most glorious and diffi- 
cult of all tasks, the most exacting of all labors. It de- 
mands not only intellectual equipment and technical skill, 
but a radiantly transmissive personality. "The one su- 
preme qualification for the ministry," writes C. Silvester 
Home, "is a soul of flame." He who has not been set 
on fire himself will never kindle others. He must be 
in the truest sense "the candle of the Lord." Without 
this a man's ministry may do some good; but it will be 
a very commonplace and humdrum affair. In preaching 
every faculty and power is brought into action. ISTor is 
the need merely for variety and fullness. Fineness of 
balance is required in an eminent degree. It taxes the 
body. Invalids and weaklings are usually debarred from 
successful preaching, though men like South and Robert- 
son have overcome their physical infirmities, just as John 
Knox rose above the disabilities of old age. When he 
entered the pulpit at St. Andrew's, he had to be lifted 
into it and "lean at his first entry; but before he had 
done with his sermon," continues the chronicler, "he was 
so active and vigorous that he was like to ding the pulpit 
into blads, and fly out of it." Preaching, moreover, re- 
veals the mind, whether it be a sand desert, strewn with 
artificial bouquets, or a fertile field which persistently 
brings forth an abundant and wholesome crop. Its suc- 
cess is closely bound up with the character. Though gifted 
with the tongues of men and of angels, Beau Brummel 
could not preach effectively on humility, or Poe on tem- 
perance, or Coleridge on the power of will. Daniel Web- 
ster once said that the best argument he knew for the 
reality of religion, and for the beauty and power of Chris- 
tianity, was an old aunt living up among the 'New Eng- 
land hills. Soundness of health, cogency of thought, and 
beauty of character are all fused together in the task of 



12 The Mii^istry 

preaching. It does not need the superman, but it does 
demand a whole man. 

When real preaching is heard, God's truth in a man 
is brought to bear with all the beauty and power of which 
the medium is capable upon the minds and hearts of a 
congregation; and what a wonderful opportunity that 
great open forum presents ! There in the ends of the 
pews sit some, at least, of the business and professional 
leaders of the community. Touch them, and the preacher 
lays his finger upon medicine, law, teaching, and the in- 
dustrial order in which he lives. There are fathers and 
mothers. Reach them, and he enters every home. There 
are boys and girls, plastic, receptive, ready to be devel- 
oped and perfected by the preacher wise and tactful 
enough to win a hearing. There are people in whom 
meanness must be shamed, lawlessness and selfishness re- 
vealed as the maddest and most costly of follies, heart- 
breaking sorrows interpreted and transformed into min- 
isters of grace, temptations robbed of their power and 
evil habits broken. The public school, the hospital, the 
library, even politics in so far as it deals with moral 
issues, own the sway of the true preacher. The oppor- 
tunity of such a sovereign as Queen Victoria was great; 
but in these ways it was less than that of Charles Haddon 
Spurgeon in his Tabernacle, where twice every Sunday 
upon nearly six thousand people he left his mark for 
good. Luther made a deeper impression upon Germany 
than Charles the Fifth; and it was with more of truth 
than irony that Mary Queen of Scots in her famous in- 
terview with John Knox remarked: "I perceive that my 
subjects shall obey you and not me." England would 
have lost but little if George III. had died in infancy; 
but the whole nation would have been impoverished if, 
when the enemies of Samuel Wesley burned his rectory 
at Epworth, a neighbor, raised upon the shoulders of 
others, had not climbed into the upper story, where one 
of the children had been overlooked in the confusion, and 



Character and Scope of the Work 13 

snatched little John from the flames. Even death has 
not ended the ministry of Frederick W. Robertson. 
When his voice was silenced in 1853, only a few of his 
sermons had been published, and his name was little 
known beyond the circle of his Brighton congregation and 
his English friends. It was in 1881, almost thirty years 
later, that Dean Stanley wrote of him: '^He has become 
beyond question the greatest preacher of the nineteenth 
century." 

In its power over life what position has a chance equal 
to that of the pulpit ? And nothing will take the place 
of it, though at times editors, lecturers, novelists, and 
actors all don the preacher's robes and become his coad- 
jutors rather than his competitors. If, as one has said, 
^^an ignorant pulpit is the worst of all scourges, and an 
ineffective pulpit the worst of all scandals," surely a true 
pulpit is one of the greatest of all blessings. ^When 
Master Latimer preached, then was Cambridge blessed," 
ran the old saying. Wherever to-day there is a real 
preacher, there in spite of agnosticism, credal differences, 
a hectic, weary, and spiritually deadening commercialism, 
the amusement craze, and every other distraction, you 
will find the people. ^^The preacher, who is the messenger 
of God," writes Silvester Home, "is the real master of 
society; not elected by society to be its ruler, but elect 
of God to form its ideals and through them to guide and 
rule its life. Show me the man who, in the midst of a 
community however secularized in manners, can compel 
it to think with him, can kindle its enthusiasm, revive 
its faith, cleanse its passions, purify its ambitions, and 
give steadfastness to its will, and I will show you the 
real master of society, no matter what party may nomi- 
nally hold the reins of government, no matter what figure- 
head may occupy the ostensible place of authority." 
Churches without number, great and small, are ever 
searching for preachers, and there are probably more 



14 The Ministey 

openings in the pnlpit for men of ability than in any- 
other field of human endeavor. 

(b) Leader of Worship. As the minister is the de- 
scendant of the prophets, so is he also of the priests. 
He is the leader and inspirer of worship, the one who 
in a very true sense stands as an interpreter between 
man and God. Not that he is invested with any super- 
human prerogatives. The old sacerdotalism for most men 
is gone. But he is the ministrant at the altar of wor- 
ship. It will depend very largely upon him whether the 
first part of the service is a mere series of "opening ex- 
ercises," or a sacrament of adoration and confession; of 
barren forms, or a rewarding communion, flooded with 
the presence and power of the Great Unseen Friend. 
Whether the people listen to prayers, or are inspired and 
taught to pray; attend a sacred concert, or are lifted 
Godward and healed by the ministry of music; drop 
coins in a box, viewed as another begging nuisance, or 
worship the Giver of all good things and express the 
brotherhood of man in the offering; sing words which 
they do not mean, or send their hearts up in psalms of 
sincere devotion; hear the voice of the Eternal in the 
Scripture Lesson, or a mumbled and ineffective reading 
of a dull passage from an ancient volume ; thrill with the 
full power and meaning of the sacraments — those won- 
derful symbols which grow out of life and feed life — or 
become participators in barren rites and bloodless cere- 
monies — all this depends very largely upon the sincerity 
as well as the skill of the priest. 

It was Beecher's prayers as well as his sermons that drew 
men to Plymouth and sent them away spiritually warmed 
and fed. The power of great hymns, sung in sincerity and 
in truth, has been fully equal to the eloquence of the evan- 
gelist in our great revivals. Such a deeply spiritual and 
harmonious service as Charles Cuthbert Hall and his or- 
ganist, who richly deserves the title of associate minister 
in music, Huntington Woodman, arranged, was more than 



Chaeacter and Scope of the Work 15 

an exquisite art form. It was a spiritual power of the 
first magnitude. It brought light to the blind, and hear- 
ing to the deaf, and wings to the clod. He who can lead 
people to worship in spirit and in truth renders them 
one of the most beautiful and important of services. It 
will, in part, determine their view of the universe, whether 
it be the garment of deity or merely the attachment to 
a factory. It will be a power to shape their conduct, 
determining whether their fellows are to be treated as 
intelligent beasts of burden or as the sons of God and 
brothers of their own souls. He who worships will never 
have the anti-social spirit of the sweatshop owner who 
declined to put shingles upon his leaking roof, remarking 
brutally that hands were cheaper than shingles. Worship 
is one of the most effective ways of developing men into 
their perfect selves. "The thing we long for, that we 
are for one transcendent moment," as Lowell puts it, and 
the Being we worship will in part determine the kind 
of character we are destining ourselves to attain. The 
Hindu thug worships the brutal goddess Kali, and the 
worship of the goddess Kali helps to make a more brutal 
Hindu thug. So the worship of the highest and best, 
the Christian conception of God, is one of the most potent 
factors in a man's realization of his perfect self, not only 
because of the psychological reaction, but because in and 
through the act he consciously communes with God. One 
of the dangers of our modern life is that many men and 
women are becoming too busy and too heedless to wor- 
ship. And yet in some ways it would be better to bow 
before a pantheon of deities, or worship an idol, or pay 
divine honors to a human being, as Comte did to Clothilde 
de Yaux, than to cease to worship at all. Here is another 
field in which the minister may render a large and beauti- 
ful service. The prophet needs the priest and the priest 
needs the prophet. Only when the work of both is per- 
formed can the purpose of the church service be fully 
attained. 



16 The Ministry 

(c) Teacher. Another department of the minister's 
task is that of teaching. Preaching and teaching are al- 
ways closely related. Sometimes they are identical. For 
the preacher is the teacher and the evangelist fused into 
one. A sermon is always knowledge plus power. But 
quite apart from the opportunity furnished by the pulpit 
to impart information are the chances that are offered 
with boys and girls in clubs and classes as well as in the 
Sunday School. In lectures and addresses, in articles and 
in books, before all sorts of audiences and on all sorts 
of occasions, the minister finds himself called upon to 
instruct in the subjects which bear upon life and charac- 
ter. One of Christ's most frequent titles was that of 
"Master," or "Teacher" ; and the office and the duties 
are inherited by the ministry of to-day. 

For our age needs preeminently a teaching ministry. 
Moral and religious passion are prime requisites ; but un- 
less there be also full and accurate knowledge of the facts, 
clear thinking, luminous interpretation and practical ap- 
plication, vigorous defense of truth and equally vigorous 
exposing of error, the power of the passion may be the 
mere bubbling of boiling water which turns no wheels. 
At times it has been foolishly and even viciously applied. 
The world needs not only heat but light, and multitudes 
look to the minister with right for luminous treatment 
of the pressing moral and religious problems of our time. 

The mediation of the new knowledge concerning the 
Bible, and the re-interpretation of the Book of books until 
it has been made habitable for the modern mind is one 
inspiring task for the minister as a teacher. To the man 
who faces life four square, welcoming every discovery 
of science, every disclosure of the past by a wise critic, 
historian or sociologist, the Bible is still the world's su- 
preme literary and religious treasure, the source book for 
the highest teaching concerning morals and religion. It 
may be, and is, a casket made of crude ore as well as 
of precious metals; but it does indubitably enshrine the 



Character and Scope of the Work 17 

Word of God. Yet for thousands the book is closed. 
Some have given it up as hopelessly out of date. Some 
find in it a strange world, full of enigmas and mysteries, 
but with little that bears upon their daily lives. Others 
neglect it through ignorance, trifling, or preoccupation. 
Here is the minister's opportunity. He should master 
the Book as other teachers master biology and astronomy, 
and make his knowledge as interesting and practical as 
Huxley did his in that unforgettable essay on a piece 
of chalk. 

The faith of the Church, too, needs re-interpretation. 
Clouds and darkness are blinding the minds and shroud- 
ing the hearts of all too many religious folk in our day. 
The title of a volume by one of the most successful of 
our teaching ministers, "How Much Is Left of the Old 
Doctrines V\ indicates the situation. The history of hu- 
man thought shows that there is some truth back of the 
most fantastic credal statements. !N'othing else adequately 
explains their vitality. Unalloyed errors are as short- 
lived as nightmares; and the more of untruth a state- 
ment of faith or of science contains, the sooner it is 
placed in the crucible and refined. But it is refined, not 
destroyed; corrected, not cast upon the rubbish heap as 
utter error. 

It is so with the faith of many, both within and with- 
out the Christian Church. They face the minister with 
the facts of the university classroom, the baffling and 
bitter experiences of life, the tales of earthquake and 
war's atrocities, the mystery and tragedy of the newly 
made grave, and look up with silent hope and expectancy. 
Their challenge and their appeal is, "Teacher, I believe; 
help thou mine unbelief !'' That help must be given, and 
is being given. There is no greater service that can be 
rendered to multitudes in our troubled times. The peace 
of their lives, their victory over temptation, the security 
of their homes, the character of their social and industrial 
relations depend upon it. Here the orator may be of aid, 



18 The Ministry 

but the teacher is indispensable. The new paganism of 
men and women, dominated by their senses; the new 
atheism, bred by men like JSTietzsche, Haeckel, and Bern- 
hardi; the moral and religions ignorance of those who 
are too busy or too frivolous to think — all this must be 
combated and overcome by the best type of a teaching 
ministry. The importance of the work of the minister 
as teacher cannot be over-estimated. The joy of it is 
thrilling. For a man who loves teaching, here is one 
of the most glorious opportunities. The ministers who 
hold and help men to-day are not the sensationalists, or 
the purveyors of platitudes, or the champions of sects and 
traditions. It is rather men who by word and deed, seven 
days in the week, stand fearlessly crying, ''To this end 
am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto 
the truth." 

(d) Pastor, Another familiar title of the minister is 
that of pastor, or ''shepherd." In this there is no sug- 
gestion that the people are sheep. It merely describes 
that portion of his work in which he deals with the mem- 
bers of his parish individually and personally, each one 
being the subject of friendly service and affectionate care. 
E^ow there is a popular impression abroad that this form 
of ministerial activity, save in certain sections and among 
certain classes, is very largely a thing of the past. Some 
are inclined to view it as an impertinence, if not as a 
waste of time. College men are prone to look upon it 
as a mere ringing of doorbells, followed by perfunctory 
inquiries concerning the health of the family and various 
pious condolences. On the whole it does not seem to be 
what they like to call "a man's job." 

This is a very vapid fallacy; for rightly interpreted 
the work of the pastor is one of the largest tasks that 
a man can possibly undertake. It means that he is to be 
more than a preacher, more than a leader of worship, 
more than a teacher. His profession includes also the 
duties of the public friend. Like Chrysostom he must 



Character and Scope of the Work 19 

know intimately the life of his people. In the sermons 
of that master of Christian oratory you attend the ban- 
quets of the court and hear the shouting in the hippo- 
drome. You are aware of the wide sympathies and the 
broad human knowledge of one who knew the princes 
and the rope-dancers, the philosophers and the jugglers, 
the merchants and the fortune-tellers. Such a life gains 
in power as well as in charm. To preach to men, the 
orator must laugh with them in their joys and sympathize 
with them in their sorrows. He must stand beside them 
in their temptations, pity their follies, carry their griefs, 
bear the shame and penalty of their sins. He must be 
a man not only of the cloister and pulpit, but in a true 
sense a man of the world. 

For men need more than church services and popular 
lectures. !N'othing will take the place of sympathetic 
companionship, through which the most intimate personal 
service can be rendered. A certain amount of advice, 
comfort, warning and rebuke can be administered to a 
crowd; but for delicate readjustments and difficult needs, 
nothing will atone for the lack of those quiet hours when 
two friends talk face to face alone. It is this that lies 
back of the routine of seemingly ineffective systematic 
visitation. It is only in that way that the minister can 
ever come to know his people. Ten calls may apparently 
bear little fruitage; but they enable him to do the work 
that no other ten men can accomplish when the need for 
the eleventh call comes. Furthermore, this is the only 
way to reach some people. They will not come to the 
preacher, and so the preacher must go to them. The true 
pastor holds very largely in his own hands the solution 
of the problem of at least some of ^ the unchurched. 

The variety of service in this department is almost end- 
less. Here is a young skeptic. It will take a whole series 
of frank talks, full of advice in regard to reading and 
of testimony concerning the pastor^s own religious ex- 
perience, to make plain the way to him. The next call 



20 The Ministry 

may be upon a man soured by his industrial hardships 
and pessimistic concerning himself as well as the world. 
The face of a shut-in lights up at the friend's coming. 
The foundations of a home are in jeopardy, and the friend 
can help to strengthen them and even rebuild. There are 
saloons and dives in the neighborhood, and the boys must 
be warned and the girls shielded. A family in poverty 
needs more than dollars, and the pastor can minister to 
those higher needs ; but he can also show ways to find 
dollars, or bring them, if need be, without cutting the 
sinews of individual endeavor or lowering the bread-win- 
ner's self-respect. Inactive Christians must be inspired 
and set to work. Samaritans must be reached and publi- 
cans and sinners transformed. 

Here is the work of the physician of souls. There is 
no omnibus prescription, certified to cure everybody. 
Each case demands diagnosis and individual treatment. 
It is the opportunity of the specialist in spiritual thera- 
peutics. It is perhaps the supreme illustration of the art 
of friendship, the constructive application of the principles 
of sociology to individual needs. It is an investment of 
knowledge, sympathy, tact, and patience from which the 
returns are abundant. It is the pervasive and persuasive 
power of personality. To see what it means, we have 
only to read the lives of men like Oberlin at Steinthal 
in the Vosges Mountains, Baxter at Kidderminster, George 
Herbert at Bemerton, Keble at Hursley, and Kingsley at 
Eversley. These men changed lives and saved homes; 
some of them leavened and transformed whole communi- 
ties. At Kidderminster Baxter wrought a social miracle. 
The same is true of Oberlin at Steinthal. When he died, 
ignorance had been succeeded by general intelligence, fla- 
grant immorality by sobriety and piety; and the entire 
region had improved in industry and in thrift through 
the work of this true pastor, who invested his life as his 
people's friend. Such men bless by their very presence. 
There is a deep truth back of the legends of the old saints 



Character and Scope of the Work 21 

whose shadows healed the sick upon whom they fell. 
"The day was dark and gloomy/' was the jotting of a re- 
porter in a Boston newspaper; "but Phillips Brooks 
walked down through Newspaper Row, and all was bright. '^ 

The great aim of any ministry, the test of its power 
and its permanence, is to reach people; and here the 
work of the preacher and teacher must be supplemented 
by that of the pastor. As Alice Freeman Palmer puts 
it, "It is people that count; you want to put yourself 
into people; they touch other people; these others still, 
and so you go on working forever." Jesus spent most 
of his time not in preaching great sermons to the multi- 
tude, but in putting himself into the minds and hearts 
of a small group of ordinary folk. Few pastors have 
ever had more limited or more humble parishes; and yet 
upon his success with those fishermen and peasants hung 
the fate of his mission and the winning of the world. 

(e) Social Worker. The minister's work as a pastor 
naturally broadens out into all sorts of social service. He 
stands at the head of an institution big and brave enough, 
at least in its truest representatives, to champion the whole 
social ideal. Lovers of men, who have devoted themselves 
to prohibition, child labor, charities and corrections, prison 
reform, industrial betterment, and other kinds of service, 
are necessary and helpful specialists, busy with a section 
of it. The minister's work brings him into vital and 
constant touch with the whole. Nor is he viewed as a 
tyro and incompetent simply because he is a minister. 
Some preachers are; but the real man passes at his true 
worth. What ministers have done as social servants would 
make a long story. The mind recalls at once the work 
wrought by Dr. Parkhurst, Dr. Painsford and Roswell 
Bates in New York, Dr. Gladden in Columbus, Ohio, and 
a score of others who are among the most competent civic 
servants in their cities and states. After the San Fran- 
cisco earthquake three of the fifteen men on the Execu- 
tive Committee for Relief were m.inisters, and the chair- 



22 The Mi:n"istey 

man was a minister. Any man who desires to do social 
work will find in the ministry the broadest scope and a 
free field. The church is awake to its social opportunities. 
The most popular religious books are the works of men 
like Josiah Strong, Lyman Abbott, Washington Gladden, 
Professor Rauschenbusch, Professor Steiner, Dean Shailer 
Matthews and others, who point the way to take human 
society for Christ, all of it, and to build the Kingdom of 
God not in the dim world that lies beyond death^s portal, 
but here on the solid foundation of this tangible earth. 

(f) Executive. Last of all, the work of the minister 
develops him as an executive. The Church is really a 
corporation, a form of human activity as practical and 
as varied as that of a great department store. It presents 
a fine opportunity for business ability, and men are ap- 
plying the principles of scientific management not only 
to stores and factories but to churches. To discover 
the talents and aptitudes of all sorts of individuals and 
then set them to work in their proper places — more than 
that, to keep them there when the charm of novelty and 
the first enthusiasm have begun to wane; to study each 
department and see that it is productive, that one hun- 
dred pounds of steam are not being applied to an engine 
that is pulling only its own weight, and sometimes less ; 
to insist that all organizations shall be religious dynamos 
and social forces; to drill and inspire a Christian army 
which can be hurled against the forces of evil in the com- 
munity; to make the wisest investment of all resources, 
physical and spiritual as well as financial ; to take long 
views, so that every year sees the Church increased in 
stature and nearer its goal ; in brief, to build the Church 
of the Carpenter and of the Cross, not what some one has 
characterized as '^the Church of the Holy Fuss" ; all this 
calls forth the same talent for management which usually 
finds its field in business. The minister, who all too often 
plays the role of comedian in plays and novels, is a cari- 
cature. The impractical dreamer, the prey of the stock 



Chaeacter and Scope of the Work 23 

gambler, the business booby and ignoramus is no more 
typical of the minister than the quack dispenser of medi- 
cines is typical of the doctor. The world demands pro- 
fessional efficiency of all its workers, and the minister 
is no exception to the rule. 

(g) Specialization. Such, in brief, is the spectrum of 
the work of the minister. He is preacher, leader of wor- 
ship, teacher, pastor, social worker and administrator, all 
in one. As in other callings an increasing amount of 
specialization is being developed. Some men in large city 
churches are compelled to give their time almost entirely 
to the demands of the pulpit, associating with themselves 
fellow-workers who shall perform the other roles. This is 
not ideal; for to preach to a people most effectively, one 
needs the intimate contact and knowledge that are given 
only to the faithful pastor who is personally in touch 
with all departments of the work. But more and more 
such a division of labor becomes unavoidable, especially 
in the realm of religious education. Few ministers in 
city churches have the time and strength to assume charge 
of the Sunday School, the teacher training class, the lead- 
ership of the young people, the organization and direction 
of boys' clubs and girls' clubs, mission study classes, and 
all the other educational activities of a modern church. 
Furthermore, if they had this, they ought not to. Lay 
leadership is usually, though by no means necessarily, 
an inefficient makeshift, simply because few laymen are 
willing to develop their talents and take the time. The 
task, however, is one that demands the best that the most 
carefully trained specialists can render ; and an increasing 
number of young men who feel that they are not fitted 
to become preachers are finding large and remunerative 
fields. Ultimately this specialization will be as widely 
developed in the ministry as it has been in other callings. 
Men peculiarly fitted for one portion of the work will 
be intensively trained to attend to that, and that only. 
Large churches will find it as impossible for one worker 



24 The Ministry 

to take charge of all their activities as it is for one 
worker to run a department store. They will require 
a staff of clergy and a modest office force, if the business 
world's standard of efficiency is to be maintained. 

The great majority of ministers to-day, however, have 
an activity that is full orbed. Whether in city or in 
country, at home or abroad, they are called upon to train 
their faculties and invest their powers all along these 
lines. The challenge presented by the city church is 
thrilling for the man who is looking for the biggest pos- 
sible job. The challenge of the country church is equally 
inspiring when interpreted and undertaken as it is by 
the graduates of our best seminaries. The sleepy little 
meeting house, with its few services and gossipy sewing 
societies, where the minister's time is wasted over petty 
affairs and personal feuds, is either a diseased specimen 
or a caricature. The up-to-date country church which 
bases its work upon a careful social survey, where the 
minister knows the value for religion if not the religious 
value of good roads, improved methods of agriculture, 
community centers for instruction, wholesome recreation 
and social intercourse, the distribution of reading material, 
cooperative movements from distribution to banking, and 
similar matters, is one of the most valuable assets in our 
national life. The soil is the basis of all life and industry. 
The country is usually the feeder for the best life of 
our cities. Rural decline and degeneration must be 
checked and rural betterment fostered in every way, if 
national integrity and prosperity are to be preserved. 
For this work no men, save those at the head of large 
organizations devoted to country problems, have so great 
an opportunity as the country ministers. 

The opportunity of the missionary on the foreign field 
is even more glorious. There where millions look to the 
minister for leadership, not only in matters of religion 
but of education, hygiene, medicine, agriculture, civics, 
social reorganization and statesmanship, is perhaps a 



Qualifications 25 

man's chance to play tlie largest and most important role 
in the life of the world. Many of our brainiest and best 
university men are waking up to the fact and enlisting 
in that army of Christian soldiers. Many more will vol- 
unteer for the work at home and abroad when their eyes 
are opened to the wonderful opportunity and the tremen- 
dous need. The health of the present and the hope of 
the future are very largely in their hands. 

III. Qualifications 

(a) Health. Such being the work, the qualifications 
necessary for success in it are evident. First of all is 
good health. This may seem to be no more requisite for 
the minister than for the doctor or the manufacturer. 
There is strain in all occupations, and the only firm 
foundation for success is a sound body. But the task 
of the minister is so preeminently that of life-giving, the 
force with which his message can be delivered, and the 
helpfulness of his social intercourse with those in sorrow 
and trouble so need the light and heat and power which 
health radiates, that, with rare exceptions, only the man 
who can count on muscles and nerves and organs func- 
tioning normally should look to the work. It is not that 
he needs to be an athlete or a giant. The great bulk of 
the work of this profession, as of every other, has to be 
done by ordinary folk. But it would be unwise for the 
frail and delicate constitution, or the body with some per- 
manent disability, to count upon the example of men 
like Calvin and South and Robertson. Parkman in his- 
tory, Scott in literature, and Darwin in science did great 
work in spite of their semi-invalidism ; but they are nota- 
ble exceptions to the general rule. Poor health is a seri- 
ous handicap in any career ; but in the minister it is apt 
to affect his theology as well as his temperament, to make 
his preaching at times doughy and dumpy, and perhaps 
more seriously limit his usefulness in this calling than 



26 The Ministry 

in some other field. Any impediment in speech, or a 
weak, piping, rasping voice — though miracles can be 
wrought here through long and wise training — should also 
give the student pause. There are physical as well as 
intellectual and spiritual indications as to whether we 
are intended to do our work in any particular occupation, 
and the seeker for a life-work needs to give them careful 
heed. 

(h) Intellectual Ability, l^ext to health, the calling 
demands something more than average intellectual ability. 
The minister, as has been said, is necessarily a leader and 
a teacher; and if his various faculties and endowments 
do not enable him to perform these functions successfully, 
the result spells not only failure but tragedy for all con- 
cerned. As in the case of health, there is no thought that 
the minister needs to be a genius or a prodigy; but he 
certainly must not be an ignoramus or a dunce. ^'God 
and a fool might do as much good in the world as God 
and a wise man," said an old Methodist minister cau- 
tiously, "but they never have done it." It is safe to 
say that until we live in a topsy-turvy, happy-go-lucky 
universe, they never will. The minister is preeminently 
the man whose brain should teem with the finest thoughts 
and the highest ideals, and be able to deliver them. He 
must in his own field lead the social and industrial leaders 
of the community, clarify the thinking of his own people, 
interpret the past to the present, the present to itself, and 
prepare the race for the future. All this demands the 
highest service that the best minds can render. Knowl- 
edge, skill in clear, cogent thinking, and sound common 
sense alone can succeed. 

(c) Love of Men. To a sound body and a sound mind 
should be added a genuine love of people, not only the 
talented and congenial but also the unattractive and com- 
monplace. The minister must be willingly and gladly the 
friend of everybody, regardless of age, sex, station or 
condition. For him the hearts that beat under the bent 



Qualifications 27 

backs in the tenement sweatshops and the souls that look 
out from the pale faces of wage-earning children are of 
more value than all the diamonds in Kimberley. He for- 
gets at times, as Livingstone confessed that he did, whether 
men are black or white. He echoes the song of the con- 
verted prize-fighter in Masefield's ''The Everlasting 

Mercy" ; 

"I knew that Christ had given me birth 
To brother all the sons of earth." 

He is obligated by his calling to be a lover of men, happy 
to be with them and to labor for them. In him no amount 
of genius will atone for the lack of a sane and wholesome 
optimism in regard to humanity. His love will not be 
blind to men's weakness or to their follies and their vices. 
At times he will reprove and rebuke with the sternness 
and indignation of Jesus. He will hate evil as Robert- 
son hated it. ''I have seen him," writes one of his friends, 
"grind his teeth and clench his fist when passing a man, 
who he knew was bent on destroying an innocent girl." 
On hearing of a base act, his indignation was often so 
intense that he could not sleep. But, like Jesus, the 
minister will never be hopeless concerning the worst of 
his fellows, and through all his sternness and indignation 
will glow the justice of the upright judge, the skill of 
the spiritual surgeon, and the love of a friend. 

His people's foibles will have the kindliest as well as 
the clearest interpretation. For the sake of those he serves 
there will be nothing that cannot be borne, nothing that 
cannot be forgiven. With Luther he must be able to 
say: "My soul is too glad and too great to be at heart 
the enemy of any man." In the ministry there is no 
place for the pessimist, the bookworm, the recluse, or the 
snob. The need is for a vivid imagination, not merely as 
an aid to the preacher in presenting the message, but as a 
means of thinking his way into another's situation; for 



28 The Ministry 

a broad and catholic sympathy, that understands and 
thrills with all human experience ; for a power of feeling, 
which will bring close touch and the warmth of moral and 
social compassion. 

There is plenty of work to be done by those who do 
not care for the society of their fellows. They belong to 
the Brahmin caste, admirable but lonely souls of the Em- 
ersonian type, superior, intellectual, cold-blooded. People 
are apt to bore them, and they do their best work alone. 
We honor these men for their achievements, but their 
place is not in the ministry. For this we need "big 
humans,'' men like Moody with his exuberant democratic 
friendliness, and Beecher, who was glad to win one poor 
little servant girl at his revival, and to hobnob with dock- 
hands on ferry boats and with bus-drivers as well as with 
the cultured folk who thronged Plymouth church. IN^oth- 
ing but such a love of men will carry joyously and buoy- 
antly the task of the minister, or enable him to control 
cranks, win his enemies, and cover with a mantle of love 
and forgiveness his own faults and sins. 

(d) Desire to Serve. Such a love of people brings 
with it naturally a fourth requisite, a great desire to serve. 
"He that is greatest among you shall be your minister," 
that is, your servant ; "and he that would be chief among 
you shall be bond-servant of all." Love worthy of the 
name leads to activity. Sympathy brings suffering until 
the wound is healed or the want supplied. There are 
people who pride themselves upon the number of their 
servants; the minister is proud of the number whom he 
serves. Moral enthusiasm that puts on its own harness, 
spiritual passion that is unhappy until it is expressing 
itself with power — that is a characteristic of the man 
fitted for the ministry. It was this that lay back of 
careers like those of Livingstone and Pattison, of Macleod 
and Chalmers. It is the power back of the success of 
their followers to-day. 

(e) Spiritual Conviction, In all this service there 



Qualifications 29 

must be the conviction that the world's greatest needs 
are spiritual. For charitable work money and food are 
necessary; but still more needful in most cases is the 
training in hygiene, industry, thrift, temperance, hon- 
esty and all useful knowledge — in brief, an enlightened 
and empowered character, which will enable the destitute 
to earn money and food for themselves. It is so in all 
social service. Given character, and men can usually 
conquer enough of the material kingdom to win a reason- 
able competence. The result of success poured into their 
laps would soon be dissipated and leave the beneficiaries 
still poor. The one gift which they cannot do without 
is the life whose normal and inevitable fruits are love, 
joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, meekness, faithful- 
ness and self-control. The man possessed of this, what- 
ever his bank account, is already rich. 

\N^ow the well-spring of this life, the source of the 
world's best spiritual treasures, is indubitably the life and 
teachings of Jesus; and the heart and soul of the life 
and teachings of Jesus is an all-mastering belief in the 
Fatherhood of God. This is much more than the con- 
viction that a God exists. It is a conviction plus an 
experience; a belief in the root sense of a thing a man 
be-loves and so lives by; a friendship which controls 
all his thoughts and ambitions, all the springs of his 
activity. It determines his choice of occupation, governs 
his social and industrial dealings with his fellows, hal- 
lows his home, interprets life and history. If there is 
a "Personal Spirit, perfectly good, who in holy love cre- 
ates, sustains and orders all," it is the most stupendous 
fact in the universe. As a pious dream it is beautiful 
but impotent; as a dominant reality it supplies the an- 
swer to what all the world is seeking, the power which 
alone can bring the individual and society to their full 
perfection, and build on earth the heaven for the lack 
of which we all suffer, and the realization of which, in 
our highest moments, we all passionately desire. With- 



30 The Ministet 

out siicli an all-mastering conviction, such a vital and joy- 
ous faith in God, no man should enter the ministry. For 
the Christian minister is above all else the disciple and 
apostle of Jesus. Absolute loyalty and devotion, un- 
swerving obedience, enthusiastic heralding of the truth 
and imparting of the life — that is the supreme service 
of the minister; and it cannot be rendered unless he is 
convinced that Jesus Christ, and the God revealed in 
Him, alone can satisfy the deepest needs of the world. 

(f ) Sense of Call. This, however, should be true of all 
Christians, laymen as well as clergy. Accordingly, as a 
last qualification, there remains to be added the sense of 
a call. Any man endowed with health, good ability, a 
love of people, a longing to serve, and a firm belief that 
the world's greatest needs are spiritual and that they find 
their satisfaction in God through Jesus Christ, is certainly 
called to investigate the claims of the ministry. But with 
all these he may fijid that his best service can be rendered 
in law or medicine or teaching. It is only he who feels 
the urge to serve as a minister who should enter the field. 

This sense of inner compulsion, of special desire and 
fitness, is usually a very simple and normal experience. 
He who waits for mysterious revelations and supernatural 
visitations does not yet understand the ways in which 
God speaks. "I am as much called to preach the Gospel 
as Paul was," asserted Spurgeon stoutly; but for him 
there was no vision on the road to Damascus. He was 
conscious only of a conviction concerning man's greatest 
needs, the pull of a desired task, and the sense of fitness 
to perform it. He felt that in the facts of life and in 
the capacities and impulses of his own soul God was 
calling; and standing up in a faith as prompt as it was 
humble, he replied, "Here am I; send me." 

In one of the leading seminaries of the country it has 
been the custom for the students in informal weekly gath- 
erings to take one another into some sacred confidences. 
In turn each relates the circumstances under which he 



Qualifications 31 

became a Christian, how he obtained his education, and 
the experience which induced him to enlist in the min- 
istry. Without exception the stories have been as de- 
void of the supernatural, according to the old idea of it 
as a miraculous intervention in the ordinary working of 
men's minds and of nature, as the stories which might 
be related by a group of doctors. It was not that God 
had nothing to do with their choices, or that He had 
not made His will evident. It was only that, to their 
minds. He had done so in simple and normal ways. 

Just as God called Mozart indubitably to be a musi- 
cian, and Raphael to give his life to painting, and John 
Howard to release the prisoners, and Edison to serve 
in science, and Arnold Toynbee to devote himself to the 
London slums, so He summoned Bushnell to be a minis- 
ter. The calls to the disciples and to Timothy were equally 
simple and clear. It is a divine urge in response to a 
divine vision; but the divinity is such as an Adoniram 
Judson would recognize as well as a St. Francis, a John 
Knox as well as a Paul. It may be a calm but unescapable 
conviction that the work of the ministry is good and 
terribly needed, and that he is fitted for the work of 
ministry. It may be as passionate a cry as, ^Woe is 
me if I preach not the Gospel!'' Spurgeon asserted that 
his call began when a visiting minister took him on his 
knee and said : ^'I do not know how it is, but I feel a 
solemn presentiment that this child will preach the gospel 
to thousands, and God will bless him to many souls." 
Robertson's great desire was to be a soldier, not that 
he might win military glory, but that he might do good. 
When a friend urged him to consider the ministry, he 
exclaimed, ''No, never!" But when his father joined 
in the request, and other friends suggested it, he yielded, 
not weakly but evidently sensing a strong undercurrent 
of duty of which he became increasingly conscious under 
the influence of their words. 

In any event there is a call. The motive leading a 



32 The Ministey 

man into the ministry should be more than a cold sense 
of an unpleasant obligation. He who chooses it for the 
position in society which it offers is a thief and a robber, 
and should be treated accordingly. Nor is it enough to 
be a good man. If this be all, he will fail as surely 
in the ministry as in engineering or in painting. He must 
be good for the ministry. But he who instinctively re- 
sponds to the vision of the work is called of God plainly 
and indubitably. If in doubt, it will be wise to consult 
successful ministers and friends who know us best; to 
read ministerial biographies; to try the work in the op- 
portunities of church and mission, and to inform and 
test oneself in various ways. If the interest increases, 
it would be by no means a waste of time to take a trial 
year in some seminary. Hundreds of college graduates 
make a similar experiment in our law schools, and, whether 
they choose the profession or not, find themselves richer 
for the experience. Listening for a call from God is an 
active as well as a passive experience, and every faculty 
and opportunity must be used by any man who sincerely 
desires to hear God speak. 

Such are the qualifications for success in the work of 
the ministry; and the list is neither over-long nor unduly 
exacting. 'No young man need expect to find them fully 
developed at the outset. It is enough to discover en- 
couraging beginnings. It is folly to measure oneself by 
the stature of ministerial giants. Science would be de- 
serted if no one volunteered unless equipped with the fac- 
ulties of a von Humboldt or a Darwin. Furthermore, the 
best and wisest of men, on account of their clear insight 
into the greatness of their tasks, have shrunk from what 
was often the very work for which God had destined them. 
]^othing but the resistless urgency of Farel prevented 
Calvin from declining his opportunity in Geneva. Knox 
refused again and again to become the prophet for Scot- 
land until at last the insistency of John Rough led him 
to put his hand to the work. Many a young man, well 



Rewards 33 

fitted for the ministry, is often in danger through undue 
modesty of treating his call as Tennyson did ^'The Brook/' 
throwing it into the waste-basket as not good enough to 
publish. A better example to follow is that of Gladstone. 
*'The longer I live/' he once said, "the more I feel my 
utter powerlessness in the House of Commons. But my 
principle is this : never to shrink from any such respon- 
sibility when laid upon me by a competent person." 
When a true call to the ministry comes, the true man 
will follow. For his comfort he may recall the fact al- 
ready noted, that the bulk of the work in every profes- 
sion is done by men and women of average ability. Both 
he and the world lose tremendously when through an 
excess of humility or morbid self-depreciation he turns 
needlessly away. 

IV. Rewards 

(a) Money. As for the rewards of the ministry, it 
is no exaggeration to say that they are richer and finer 
and more varied than those in any other calling. Finan- 
cially it offers a poor career for the fortune-hunter. No 
minister's salary ever can or ever should pile up a bank 
account needing seven figures to express it. On the other 
hand, an efficient workman is usually well cared for. 
If he is rarely as rich as the richest man in the com- 
munity, he is never as poor as the poorest. He occupies 
financially just the position which is most advantageous 
for the success of his mission — not so luxurious as to be 
the object of envy or criticism, but safe. 

Poor salaries are paid to only two classes in the pro- 
fession: poor workmen who would probably not receive 
large salaries in any other field, and heroes who for 
Christ's sake have deliberately chosen to be poor. The first 
group earns all that it is worth as ministers, whatever its 
value to society might be if its members chose occupations 
to which they were better adapted. The second group, big 



34 The Min-istry 

men who have volunteered for the hardest jobs in out-of- 
the-way places at home and abroad, deserve better things 
at the hands of the church at large and of society. Vari- 
ous denominations are awake to this situation; and by 
special grants, old age pensions, stimulating over-penuri- 
ous communities, coupling churches in thinly populated 
districts with prosperous city churches, are increasiHg the 
salaries of these soldiers of the faith. But for them as 
for others the highest rewards are of another and more 
satisfying kind. 

In general, however, a good minister earns as much 
as a good teacher or the average man in a number of 
professions. The discouraging figures sometimes quoted 
in magazine articles are misleading. They are often based 
upon the salaries of all sorts of men in all sorts of situa- 
tions — ^lay preachers and ministers serving part time, like 
one to whom the writer listened in a schoolhouse in the 
mountains. Six days in the week he was the blacksmith ; 
on the seventh he was an exhorter. Moreover, the earn- 
ings of the average doctor and lawyer are much lower than 
the college student, who has his eyes on the practice of 
the successful attorney and the fees of the famous surgeon, 
is inclined to believe. To-day the promising graduate of 
our best seminaries rarely begins with less than $1,800, 
and often receives $2,500 and parsonage. This makes it 
possible for the minister to have a home earlier than the 
lawyer or the physician. Figures compiled at Yale con- 
cerning the finances of the class of 1906 show that it took 
five years for the lawyers to climb to the place where the 
ministers started. For the best class of ministers salaries 
average from $2,500-$5,000, and in instances rise to 
$8,000-$10,000, and there are always churches searching 
eagerly to find just such men. The figures vary in differ- 
ent parts of the country and in different denominations. 
But no worker, good for the ministry and thoroughly 
trained, need ever fear that he will lack financial appre- 
ciation any more than if he were a good doctor, lawyer, 



Rewaeds 35 

teacher, engineer, or business man. Every occupation has 
its risks. None furnishes insurance against want. But 
the efficient minister is usually in comfortable circum- 
stances. If he is never a Dives, neither v^ill he ever be 
a Lazarus; and his v^ages will be adequate to the majority 
of modest wants as well as to all absolute needs. 

(b) Self -Development. But it is when we turn to the 
minister's rewards in other fields that their richness and 
variety are apparent. Take the matter of self-develop- 
ment. What other profession offers so magnificent an 
opportunity as his? It is not necessary to contrast such 
lots as those of the factory worker and clerk, or of the 
narrow specialist in any calling. Take the broadest and 
highest — teaching, law, medicine; none so tax every fac- 
ulty and power of a well-rounded manhood, and make 
every part of the work a stepping-stone toward full and 
joyous perfection. 

For the body it is one of the most healthful of all 
callings. ISTo ordinary insurance company can rival the 
rates of those which accept ministers only, simply be- 
cause ministers are recognized as among the best of 
selected risks. The quiet mornings in the study; the 
afternoons which take him out into the open air; the 
nights of abundant' and unbroken rest; the control over 
his time, enabling him to distribute his working hours 
most advantageously, doing his hardest work when he is 
most fit and resting when he must; the long vacations, 
well-earned and necessary; the constant spurs, if he is 
wise enough to recognize and heed them, to keep himself 
in the best possible physical condition — these and other 
circumstances work together to make his occupation an 
especially healthful one, fitted to keep him in full and 
joyous vigor during his working years, and to lead on 
to a happy and sturdy old age. 

As for the brain, it is constantly speeded up to the 
limit of its powers and capacities. It is called upon 
to deal with the greatest and most vital themes, to bring 



36 The Mixistey 

the holiest principles to bear upon personal conduct and 
to wrestle with difficult social problems. It is compelled 
to be creative as well as studious. I^o matter how much 
attention is given to keeping up with the thoughts of 
others, it must always react, thinking for itself. The 
muddy brain is doomed from the start; the intellectual 
sponge soon becomes as ineffective as a phonograph; the 
lazy mind ossifies. The minister's task necessitates a 
drill fitted to develop the mental athlete, and his brain 
is constantly becoming a finer organ of service. 

Every faculty and talent is brought into play. Music 
he should know. If in addition to knowledge he has tech- 
nique and can sing or play, so much the better. The 
same is true of his skill in art and poetry, though to a 
more limited degree. The boys will appreciate and test 
his athletic ability, the girls his social graces. The de- 
mands made upon the breadth and strength of his sym- 
pathy, the appeal to his emotions, running the entire gamut 
of feeling, make him strong on this side of his manhood 
also. The more richly he is endowed, the more manifold 
will be his usefulness, and no gift in the whole range of 
personality need go to waste. 

In brief, nothing is lacking which is needed to bring 
him to his fullest perfection, not because he is deliberately 
cultivating himself only — though this is necessary — but 
because of the daily influence of his work. ''The Chris- 
tian ministry is the best opportunity there is for self- 
culture, social service, fellowship with the best, and com- 
radeship with God," is the testimony of Dr. W. T. McEl- 
veen. '']^o other vocation can compare with it for mak- 
ing one's personality rich and radiant." It is no chance 
that in ''Who's TVho ?", counting the number of names 
coming from the homes of ministers as 100%, the next 
class reaches only 70%, while the ministers have three 
times as many sons as any other class. The old quip, 
that ministers' children are proverbially bad, is not well- 
founded. As the profession deals with character, so it 



Eewards 3Y 

makes character, developing its workers into their full 
stature as well-rounded men. 

(c) Harmony Between Labor and Life. Besides the 
rewards of self-development is the harmony which exists 
between the man's labor and his life. There is no clash, 
not even a division of interests, such as exists in some 
occupations. The minister's work dominates everything 
— his tasks, ideals, ambitions — not because the occupation 
spells slavery but because it brings the only perfect free- 
dom, in which a man gladly and even unconsciously 
makes all things subservient to the one beloved aim of 
his life. That is partly true of other callings; but pos- 
sibly in no other is it so fully exemplified as in the min- 
istry. For the minister's labor is his fullest and best 
expression of himself. The work in a very real sense is 
the man. That is not true of the grocer, or of the man- 
ufacturer; not always even of the lawyer and doctor and 
teacher. This fact enables the minister to devote him- 
self wholly to a single great aim without hostile camps 
in his own army or even distractions in the purpose 
of his career. For him home and business, work and 
play, all blend together in one harmony; and the more 
many-sided his interests, the vaster and more perfect the 
music. This is a matter that ministers to success as 
well as to joy. 

(d) Social Relations. Another set of rewards are those 
which come from the minister's deep and satisfying rela- 
tions with his fellows. He of all men has the most inti- 
mate and perfect contact with life. ]^othing which vitally 
concerns men and women is alien to him. He must know 
and touch them on every side. To him come the greatest 
number and the most beautiful of friendships. Business 
men tend to see in their fellows only competitors or cus- 
tomers. Sometimes the rivalry of class and caste breeds 
bitterness and scorn. The lawyer deals daily with human 
wrongs and injustices. The seamy side of human nature 
is ever thrust before his eyes. Thousands of toilers be- 



38 The ^^Iixistet 

come mere living automatons. In one factory a young 
girl did nothing but tie knots, while her brother listened 
from morning till night to the thud of his great machine. 
In their labor, save as they rose to unusual spiritual 
insights, the human values had vanished. In the ministry 
it is the human values that are in full objective all the 
time. The physician alone approaches him in this privi- 
lege; and even he sees his fellows for the most part only 
at times of illness and distress. 

For the minister all doors swing open and on all occa- 
sions. All castes and all races are on his calling list. 
He sees them at work and at play, in the home and at 
the store, on birthdays and wedding days, as well as at 
other times when homes are dark with tragedies that are 
worse than sorrows. At all the most sacred scenes he 
alone of all men is privileged to be present. It is to him 
that under all circumstances folk high and low may ap- 
peal as a trusted friend. The ties that bind him to his 
fellows are as sweet as they are lasting. "There is no 
career," writes Phillips Brooks, "that can compare with 
it for a moment in the rich and satisfvino: relations into 
which it brings a man with his fellowmen, in the deep 
and interesting insight which it gives into human nature, 
and in the chance of the best culture for his own charac- 
ter. In a world where there are a great many good and 
happy things to do, God has given us the best and hap- 
piest." When a minister truly fills his place in a com- 
munity, the whole city looks up to him as a friend and 
father; and when, after years of absence, he returns to 
the old home, the boys and girls whom he baptized, now 
with children of their own, the young people he married, 
now grandparents, the grown-ups whom he taught and 
helped and rescued from fates often worse than death, 
clasp his hand in affectionate welcome ; and eyes brighten 
and homes are flung wide open, until the modest bank 
account is forgotten in the enjoyment of those dearer riches 
which money cannot give nor the lack of money take away. 



Rewards 39 

(e) Position in the Community. In this another re- 
ward has already been intimated — the position which the 
minister occupies in the community. In the olden days 
he was called the parson; that is, the "person/' the in- 
dividual in whom the social and intellectual as well as the 
religious life centered, the leader of leaders and teacher 
of teachers, and quite the first citizen of the place. To- 
day the ancient halo of the minister is gone, though its 
departure is less a loss than a relief. Rightfully he has 
many coadjutors and competitors ; for life is much more 
strenuous and complex. Only character counts, and his 
position is exactly what he makes it, no more and no less. 
But the old position is there if he is competent to fill it. 
Under normal circumstances multitudes of men look to 
the manse for moral leadership, and welcome and reward 
the man who in any adequate degree deserves the title 
of "parson" to-day. If he is an ignoramus or a bungler, 
a sheep rather than a shepherd, a mollycoddle or a boor, 
they treat him accordingly. If he fills the place they 
called him to occupy, they are usually ready to accord 
him the following and support which he deserves. 

Of course, in the lives of thousands the minister plays 
no conscious role whatever. Only as he influences their 
friends and the life of the community does he affect them 
at all. But for all those who are members or friends 
of the Church, and for countless others, he is still one 
upon whom is bestowed a social position such as is granted 
to few other strangers at the very outset of their careers. 
He has free entrance at once into all classes of society. 
He is offered the opportunity to play a large and im- 
portant part in the social, industrial, and civic life. If 
he fails, it is usually his fault, always partially, some- 
times wholly. For no other man is such a position ready 
and waiting; and the rewards of this are so great that 
they are in danger of becoming too alluring to men whose 
fitness for the calling lies chiefly in their eager desire to 
occupy just such a place. Some of the most richly re- 



40 The Ministry 

warded lives are those of men like Thomas Chalmers in 
Scotland, Alexander Maclaren in England, Phillips Brooks 
and Washington Gladden in our own land. For the right 
men the same reward is ready in every city, town, and 
village to-day. 

(f ) Working ivith God, Last of all, there is the sense 
of rendering vitally constructive and lasting service in 
which the minister is conscious of the favor and coopera- 
tion of God. Life reveals, in Spencer's phrase, "an infinite 
and eternal Energy from which all things proceed" ; and 
that Energy, as Matthew Arnold and Eucken see it in its 
historical manifestations, is "a Power not ourselves which 
makes for righteousness.'' With this Energy, this Power, 
in which he recognizes the presence and activity of God, 
the minister strives to work wholeheartedly and effectively. 
Laws of science and laws of soul, laws of health and laws 
of ethics, the revelations of the will of the Infinite in the 
Book Bible and in the l^ature Bible, the minister strives 
to teach and to induce men to obey. When he lies down 
at night, there is the contentment which comes from the 
consciousness that all his labor has been "in tune with 
the Infinite"; and at life's eventide he can say with 
Jesus, "Father, I have finished the work which Thou 
gavest me to do." This should be true of every life — 
bank president, civil engineer, and cobbler; but in the 
case of the minister, it is the same kind of work to which 
Jesus devoted his days. He deals constantly with human 
life in its highest values. He toils to realize the Father- 
hood of God and the brotherhood of Man, This trans- 
figures the past, making happy memories radiant and sad 
memories blessed. It inspires the present, dignifying 
drudgery and sanctifying the common task. It illumines 
the future with hope and fearlessness ; for a Power greater 
than himself will make even the wrath of man to praise 
Him, and the end of the struggle can be nothing but 
success. Such a spiritual background to a man's life- 



The Call of the Heroic 41 

work is worth everything, and forms one of the richest 
and most permanent of the minister's rewards. 

V. The Call of the Heroic 

Beyond all rewards in power of appeal, however, is the 
call of the heroic. There is no blinking the fact that the 
ministry is a strenuous occupation, and many of its best 
representatives endure hardships and make costly sacri- 
fices. The lot of our explorers, pioneers of science, and 
missionaries is shared by many a courageous toiler in the 
slums of our cities, the degenerate country districts, and 
the lonely western plains. The daring of Captain Scott 
in his search for the South Pole, the devotion of Father 
Damien which brought him to a leper's grave on Molokai, 
the self-forgetfulness of Arnold Toynbee, deserting the 
cultured fellowship of England's choicest spirits in Ox- 
ford to live as a brother and share the lot of the riff-raff 
of London's slums, find their match in the daring and 
devotion and self-forgetfulness of thousands of ministers. 
These men took up their task not because it was re- 
warding and easy, but because it needed them and was 
terribly hard. Jesus did not lure the fishermen to follow 
him by promising them soft living and earthly glory. 
He told them plainly that for some of them it meant pov- 
erty and loneliness, rods and prison cells, with misunder- 
standings and persecutions still harder to bear. And yet 
they followed him, just as brave men always follow the 
leader who stirs the latent hero in all of us. Our best 
college students are not asking for chances to "make the 
greatest amount of money with the least amount of effort 
in the shortest amount of time," as one would-be social 
pirate and parasite phrased his ambition. They are seek- 
ing the positions of greatest need and opportunities for 
the most fruitful self-investment. If these call for cour- 
age and self-denial, the appeal is strengthened rather than 



42 The !Mi:s'istrt 

weakened. The great rush of students to enlist in the 
English army shows the spirit animating our youth that 
has not become pagan and decadent. Any man who is 
unwilling to endure hardship in a good cause is not fit 
for the ministry. He who seeks first his own ease and 
aggrandizement is out of place among the followers of the 
Prophet, who left the comfort of the home and the safe 
toil of the carpenter shop for the barren hills on which 
he pillowed his weary body, and the cross on which he 
laid down the most glorious of all lives. 

YI. Objectiok^s 

In the light of all this, some objections which college 
students urge against the ministry appear very flimsy. 
Others are inconsequential, and none are well-grounded. 
Every calling has its drawbacks ; but which has fewer 
than those which attend the normal ministerial career ? 
For we judge this profession, as every other, not by its 
failures but by its successes. The critic who rails against 
the quack doctor and the unscrupulous lawyer and the 
business bungler is wasting his ammunition. "We do not 
appraise human life on the basis of a study of chronic 
invalids and criminals, but by its representatives who 
are both sound and good. The same should be true of 
the standards used in estimating the ministry. It is on 
the normal and efficient representative that our eye should 
be fixed. 

(a) Poverty, (b) Not ''a Man's Job/' Some of the 
objections have been answered already, such as that to 
take up the ministry is to choose a career which leads 
to the poorhouse and which is not a man^s job. Men 
who make the latter charge need to read history. They 
view the ministry as some men picture Savonarola seeing 
only the mystic and misguided enthusiast^ never the 
builder of constitutions, the implacable enemy of unjust 
and arbitrary taxation, the establisher of courts of appeal, 



Objections 43 

the hero who, if his fellow-citizens had helped him, might 
have been the savior of Florence, They know Calvin, the 
mediaeval theologian, proclaiming the damnation of un- 
baptized infants, and winning from his schoolmates by 
his censoriousness the nickname of ^^the accusative case." 
The Calvin who ruled Geneva with an iron hand, but 
ruled it for good, to whom the French language owes a 
debt comparable to that which the German owes to Martin 
Luther, the prophet of civil liberty, who has left his mark 
on the most progressive modern governments — this Calvin 
is to them unknown. Or, if they object to citing the 
giants of old — Knox, the statesman; Wyclif, the "day- 
star of the Reformation," and the other heroes of church 
history — what of the work of men like Robert Hall in 
Cambridge, Chalmers and Norman MacLeod in Glasgow, 
F. D. Maurice at Lincoln's Inn in London, Guthrie in 
Edinburgh, John Angell James and R. W. Dale in Bir- 
mingham, Binney and Spurgeon in London, Alexander 
Maclaren in Manchester, and scores of living men in our 
own land ? In small fields or in great, in city or in 
country, the ministry is not only a job for the biggest 
men, but the biggest job for any man who is fitted to per- 
form its duties. To lead in evangelization, social and 
political reform, community betterment, philanthropic and 
educational endeavors, is surely as engrossing and virile 
a task as the race's superman could desire. 

Testimonies to the minister's power and opportunity 
are abundant. "Of all professions for young men to look 
forward to," Beecher told the students at Yale, "I do not 
know of another one that seems to me to have such scope 
before it in the future as preaching." "Any young man 
entering the ministry to-day," said Dr. C. H. Parkhurst, 
"provided he is a person of solid convictions, and has 
the love of God and Man in his heart, and appreciates 
the conditions which as a preacher and pastor he will 
be obliged to confront, will find himself at a point of 
immense opportunity and influence." "There is room 



44 The Mixistry 

in the ministrv to-day for the activity of the highest in- 
tellectual and spiritual gifts/'' writes Dr. George A. Gor- 
don; ^^and never, I believe, were there such opportunities 
since the Apostolic Age for such service as first-class young 
men can render in this vocation. '^ ^'I know of no other 
position/' is Dr. Washington Gladden's testimony, ''in 
which a man has so manv chances to serve the communitv ; 
in which he is brought into such close and helpful rela- 
tions with so many kinds of people." ''A level-headed 
minister with aspirations for the ethical, aesthetic and 
social weal of his community has an unparalleled chance 
to-day," is the witness of Dr. Xehemiah Boynton. ''There 
are so many things in the making in America. We are 
reaching out after higher standards and more commanding 
impulsions, convictions, realizations, in every department 
of life ; so that the problem for a minister to-day is not 
that of finding chances to get in his work these relation- 
ships which mean the bettering of humanity, but of mak- 
ing a wise selection from the multifarious chances which 
are his, in view of his particular aptitudes and abilities 
and of his physical strength." 

(c) No Call. So, too, the matter of not being called 
has perhaps been sufficiently dealt with, though an added 
word may be helpful here. The college gTaduate with 
the requisite qualifications in even fair quantity and qual- 
ity, who is persuaded that he lacks the call, needs often 
to ask himself whether he has opened his eyes to the 
vision of what the work of the ministry is, and whether 
he has sincerely listened to the simple, unmysterious call 
of ability that faces opportunity and need. A Southern 
gentleman was once questioning rather jocularly an old 
neffro, who had recentlv been converted. ^'Well, Sam," 
he remarked with a smile, "I should like to share your 
joy and assurance; but, you see, I have never been con- 
vinced that I am among the elect." The old negro 
thought for a moment and then replied ; "Maybe, Marse 
Tom; but I don' 'member anybody's bein' 'lected what 



Objections 45 

wasn't a candidate." The man who has honestly exposed 
himself to the ministerial passion without feeling the 
compelling touch laid upon him may hesitate; but until 
he has done this, he may not conscientiously turn from 
the ministry because for him there has been no call. 

(d) Trend of the Age Away from the Ministry. Other 
objections, however, remain to be answered. First of 
all, there is the impression that the times are going 
against the work of the minister. Sophomoric individuals 
of all ages and both sexes assure us that religious beliefs 
are rapidly being relegated to the realm of folk-lore and 
primitive superstition. They tell us that the trend of 
the world is away from the life for which the Church 
stands, that the joy and the power of the old religious 
assurance was a delusion, and that the man who enters 
the ministry is battling for a cause that is irrational as 
well as forlorn. It is the old cry with which the world 
has been familiar from the days of the Greek skeptics 
to the French Encyclopaedists, and which experience has 
again and again proved to be untrue. For the fact re- 
mains that humanity is, as Sabatier phrased it, "in- 
curably religious.'' If the pendulum swings far to 
the side of skepticism in some ages, it is only to swing 
far to the side of religious extremes and over-enthusiasm 
in others, returning to the normal position in good time. 
Men always have recognized and honored the exponent 
of true religion. Our restless age shows its hunger for 
religious certainty by the zeal with which it seeks for 
it in all sorts of religious fancies and fads. If it find 
no bread in one sect, it turns hopefully to another; and 
when a real John the Baptist appears, it will throng him 
even in the wilderness, share his locusts and wild honey, 
and submit to his baptism, if only he can feed its soul 
with the bread of life. 

Some of our best young men are awake to this fact and 
are seizing the opportunity. It is probably not trvie, in 
our land, at least, that men are forsaking the ministry, 



46 The Mixistey 

thougli divergent testimonies are given. Dr. Talcott "Wil- 
liams tells us that during tlie thirty years ending in 1910 
the number of ministers has grown more rapidly than the 
numbers of lawyers and physicians, while in the past 
thirty-three years the number of theological students in 
the IJnited States has more than doubled. Still the cry 
of the Church and of the world is for more men and better. 
The need has not yet been met, though this is for quality 
rather than for quantity in these days. ^'T am well as- 
sured," writes Dr. Samuel A. Eliot, ''that for men who 
love the risks of faith, and the divine adventure, who 
can live hard and like it, the ministry presents the noblest 
and most rewarding of careers. . . . The ministry is not 
the place for slack or selfish persons. Good honesty and 
sincerity of purpose are not enough. Courage, however 
heroic, will not completely suffice. These qualities are 
needed, but also the power to teach, to console, and the 
possession, to some extent, of the gift of judicious leader- 
ship. For young men with these qualities and gifts the 
ministry should offer not only the most attractive but 
positively the most rewarding of all opportunities of serv- 
ice." The college man who yields thoughtlessly to the 
pull of other professions, because the day of the religious 
worker is waning, is simply ignorant and foolish. The 
opportunity was never so great or so glorious, and the day 
of the Church is not at the eventide but at the dawn. 

(e) Theological Difficulties. Stronger than this objec- 
tion is the conviction on the part of some of our brightest 
men that a theology in full accord with philosophy and 
science will find no welcome in the churches. The perusal 
of the historic creeds, the messages of certain pulpits, to- 
gether with the reports of occasional heresy trials lead 
them to believe that the churches are hopelessly and bellig- 
erently conservative, while the average college graduate 
is necessarily a liberal, if not a radical, and courts only 
persecution and expulsion if he accepts the minister's call. 

The charge is not without its truth; but it applies 



Objections 47 

only to certain sects, still more to individual churches 
within all sects. In general there is room for every 
honest truth-seeker in some denomination, practically in 
all the larger denominations. Bodies as broad as the 
Presbyterian, Congregational, Episcopal, and others wel- 
come both conservatives and liberals, so that the minister 
who for truth's sake is persecuted in one city finds a cor- 
dial welcome when he flees to the next. Furthermore, 
it is the educated, liberal-minded minister who is most 
in demand. After the heresy trial of a certain theological 
professor, a student who agreed with the positions of his 
teacher was called to an important church in the same 
denomination. He frankly told the Committee that he 
did not agree with the historic creed of the Church, not 
merely in isolated statements but in its whole philosophi- 
cal and scientific background. The Chairman listened to 

him smilingly, and then said : "Mr. B , if you agreed 

with that creed, our Church would not call you." 

This is not the place to enter into the ethics of creed 
subscription. Some intellectually honest men find it 
possible after such a frank statement to sign the ancient 
symbols, in as much as back of the imperfect phrasing 
and even mediaeval conceptions lies the same divine life 
which we vainly strive to express in symbolic language 
to-day. Others whose consciences are offended by such 
action may join churches like the Congregational and 
Baptist, in which, while the Denomination has a certain 
broad standard, each candidate is accepted or rejected 
on the basis of his own creed. For the brave, clear, open- 
minded truth-seeker tens of thousands of churches fling 
their doors wide open. For the honest, sturdy conserva- 
tive as for the equally honest, sturdy liberal there is both 
place and need. The only man for whom there is no room 
is the theological trimmer and dodger, who juggles with 
truth for the sake of personal advantage. Jesus had no 
word of condemnation for the honest doubt of Thomas, 
only patience and the invitation to investigate; but the 



48 The Ministry 

hypocritical Pharisees he lashed mercilessly, and the hired 
mourners he drove from the room. 

The fact is that nothing save the most fundamental 
religious doubt should keep any man who desires to be 
a minister out of the profession. The minister is pre- 
eminently a lover and imparter of truth. He is not only 
free to investigate the beliefs of the Church; he is ex- 
pressly bidden to prove all things and to hold fast only 
that which is good. He is not the intellectual prisoner 
of a closed canon. If the well-grounded discoveries of 
science, like the Copernican astronomy and evolution, 
bring him into conflict with the ancient symbols, then the 
symbols need revision; for the facts of science are the 
indubitable revelation of the wsijs of God. The promise 
of Jesus is, ^^Ye shall know the truth; and the truth'' — 
not tradition, no matter how sacred, — '^shall make you 
free." The great Teacher declined to put his message 
into hard and fast theological forms, chained to a nomen- 
clature that was certain to prove inadequate for future 
generations. He preferred to teach all that his age could 
understand, using the elastic forms of parable and imagery, 
in which every succeeding race and age might discover 
new beauties and describe its religious experience in its 
own living words. He explicitly denied that he had im- 
parted to his disciples all religious knowledge. "I have 
yet many things to say unto you," he told them, ^'but ye 
cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of 
truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth." 

The sincere follower of Jesus, eag;er to serve God and 
man in the ministry, who allows himself to be shut out 
by the Church's bigots, is either ignorant of his free 
heritage or a weakling. The great leaders of the Church 
— Amos, Paul, Luther, Wesley, and even Jesus himself 
— have all been regarded as heretics by their blinded but 
well-meaning conservative brethren. It was held heretical 
at times not only to doubt the creeds but to read the 
Bible in public worship, to use an organ, to sing hymns 



Objections 49 

with unbelievers, to hold marriage and funeral services, 
and to celebrate Christmas and Easter. This seems very 
narrow and foolish to us ; but there was reason and good- 
ness back of the Church's ultra-conservatism. Mistakenly 
its champions had identified the infallible divine life 
lying back of all creeds with certain very fallible human 
symbols and forms which they believed to constitute the 
one true creed. To their minds, he who touched the creeds 
tampered with life, something which did not follow in 
the least. We honor them for their reverence and com- 
plete devotion to the life ; we lament only that their igno- 
rant and short-sighted championing chained and hampered 
it instead of allowing it to march on in its ever-increasing 
glory and strength. The true attitude toward the past 
was well put by Beecher in one of his lectures to the 
Yale students. "I consider myself Calvinistic, you know,'' 
he said, "and in this way: I believe what John Calvin 
would have believed if he had lived in my time and saw 
things as I see them. My desire is to know what is true ; 
and then I am very glad if John Calvin agrees with 
me ; but if he doesn't, so much the worse for him !" That 
is the attitude of multitudes of ministers to-day who 
would go to the stake rather than be untrue to themselves 
or to their fellows; and with tact and grace they are 
serving the most conservative and even bigoted congre- 
gations. 

It is sometimes hard for a young man to have the pa- 
tience of the true teacher. "New theories and new truths 
cannot be crammed down men's throats. That, as Beecher. 
put it, is too much like trying to feed eggs. His advice 
is to sit on them in living, loving warmth for a while; 
and soon there will be nothing but mouths open and ready 
for what is placed in them. It is a great pity that some 
of the most promising men have turned away from the 
ministry because of their inability to perceive that the 
only limitations to the minister's freedom were the limits 
of truth and the possibilities of their congregations' un- 



50 The Ministry 

derstanding and receptivity. It is better to work inside 
the Chnrcli than without nntil the Church itself closes 
the portals ; and there are multitudes of places open to-day 
to the untrammeled truth-seeker, and to him alone. 

The essence of Christianity is safe. What is not safe 
is not true. Only fools fear that any human power can 
prevent the rising of the sun. Truth does not need to be 
kept in a glass case or locked up in a strong box. It 
thrives only when it is given freedom and fresh air, even 
though this brings the testing of the blast and of the 
storm. Men who champion truth, while guarding its in- 
terests, need to cast out the fear that any man can per- 
manently injure or thwart it; for truth is of God, and 
faith in God, like the perfect love of God, casts out fear. 

(f ) Lack of Liberty. What is true of the minister's 
belief is true also of his life in general. He is not a 
monk and an ascetic, cut off from wholesome pleasures 
and circumscribed in his freedom, as some men picture 
him. All wholesome recreation, all clean fun, all the 
joy of living is his. If he voluntarily resigns certain 
portions, it is that he may better accomplish his life-work, 
and so increase rather than diminish his own joy and the 
joy of those whom he serves. 

It is this which will govern his attitude toward dancing, 
the theater, cards, and other mooted amusements. His 
general principle is to use all good things and abuse none. 
But if meat offered to idols — a perfectly good food — 
makes his weaker brother to offend, he will eat no meat 
until he has persuaded his weaker brother either to eat 
or to tolerate the minister's eating. If, however, the 
weaker brother is merely a carping bigot, bent upon play- 
ing the role of tyrant and bully, the minister will do as 
Paul did in regard to circumcision, a good and revered 
custom, and dispute even with Peter and the whole com- 
pany of the apostles, turning to a new field rather than 
resign the liberty with which Christ has made him free. 
Many ministers attend the theater. Why should it be 



Peeparation 51 

considered right to read 'Hamlet" and "The Servant in 
the House/' but wrong to experience the full beauty and 
power of these on the stage, where they were intended 
to be given? The efficacy of the drama in arousing 
consciences and in leading men to God, as the Church 
itself used it in the miracle plays and morality plays, 
has by no means been either discredited or exhausted, 
while clean, wholesome comedies render a gracious service 
in recreating jaded and anxious minds. As for cards 
and dancing, most ministers voluntarily resign these 
amusements, admittedly dangerous for some, for the sake 
of greater efficiency. They do this not because they are 
subservient to the whims and prejudices of any man, but 
precisely because they are free. 

Every great profession has its necessary limitations and 
its sacrifices. The lavr^er, the doctor, the teacher, the 
editor, all must adapt themselves, often with much self- 
denial, to the exigencies of their professions and to the peo- 
ple to whom they are to minister. 'No man who purposes 
to do exactly as he pleases, even in regard to perfectly 
good things, can succeed in any calling which involves in- 
timate contact and cooperation with all sorts and condi- 
tions of men. Liberty is never synonymous with license ; 
and the minister, true to his mission, has only himself to 
blame if in all vital respects he is not free. In the 
matter of minor adjustments and renunciations he is no 
lonely martyr. Thousands share the same fate. In all 
the fullness of happy living he follows One who taught 
not that he might subtract from men's joy and circum- 
scribe their freedom, but rather that his deep and abiding 
joy might be in them, and that their joy might be filled 
full as they became truly free. 

YII. Peepaeatiok 

It is evident that for success in such a calling no prepa- 
ration can be too thorough. The work demands less the 



52 The Ministry 

zeal of youtliful and short-sighted enthusiasts, who vault 
from abbreviated college courses quite over the curriculum 
of our seminaries into the pulpit, than the service which 
can alone be rendered by the patient and painstaking de- 
velopment of mature powers. Short cuts to the ministry 
are always costly. Sometimes they are disastrous. The 
servant of the Church is impoverished and dwarfed; and 
for his lack of training both he and those to whom he 
ministers pay dear. Too many congregations are starving 
on a diet of Ephraims who are ''cakes not turned." The 
dough was good ; but in order to be digestible and palata- 
ble, it needed more baking, and undue haste in the process 
of manufacture spoiled the product and injured the con- 
sumer. Furthermore, the sun-drying in the experience 
of life never quite makes up for the ovens of the schools. 
Those years of hard study and personal development un- 
der expert supervision and the inspiration of sympathetic 
and helpful fellowships are invaluable. They correct 
errors, eliminate crudities, train in methods, indicate 
paths along which success may be sought, and map out 
plans for study and activity covering years to come. 

It is folly to attempt to refute this by citing such a 
life as that of Spurgeon. In the first place, Spurgeon 
was a genius, and it is never wise to measure our possi- 
bilities by those of professional giants. In the second 
place, if he had the most meager preparatory schooling 
and general education and no technical training, he was 
conscious of the lack, which was at times painfully appar- 
ent. His conceptions were often crude and his theology 
faulty; and he confessed that nothing which he said was 
fit to print as he said it. College and seminary would 
not have frosted his powers but ripened them. Further- 
more, the training which he lacked at the outset of his 
career he vigorously attempted to give himself during 
all the long course of his ministry. He did not hold the 
thousands of people in his great Tabernacle because he 
stayed away from the universities. The crowd places no 



Preparation 53 

premium upon pious ignoramuses. ^'Open thy mouth, and 
I will fill it/' was not promised to a willful dunce. 

Another life sometimes quoted is that of Beecher. 
Beecher took but one year of seminary training, it is true ; 
but he, too, was a genius, born in the home of one of the 
greatest of American ministers, and trained unconsciously 
from his boyhood in the parsonage on through those years 
when his father was seminary professor and president 
as well. Both Spurgeon and Beecher were indefatigable 
and life-long students, and Spurgeon urged his students 
to make themselves masters of all useful knowledge and 
to develop themselves in every way. 

History teaches the lesson very plainly. It is a ques- 
tion whether Moses could have accomplished his great 
work for Israel if he had not been instructed in all the 
lore of the Egyptians. Paul's "much learning," far from 
making him mad, as Festus suggested, enriched his mind 
and disciplined his powers until he was fitted to carry 
the gospel to Greece and Rome. Xavier's evangelistic 
zeal was not destroyed by his education in the University 
of Paris; and if he could lecture on the philosophy of 
Aristotle and aspire to the highest academic positions, 
he could also travel from Portugal to Mozambique, and 
on through Ceylon and Malacca to Japan and China, 
preaching the good tidings. John Wesley's sermons are 
filled with illustrations which reveal the breadth and 
height of his intellectual culture. Whitefield's training in 
Oxford gave him sway over men like David Hume and 
Benjamin Pranklin without robbing him of power over 
the miners and puddlers and weavers who thronged him 
when he preached. An empty head and a full heart sel- 
dom go together; and when they do, the result is likely 
to be more disastrous than helpful. To be sure, Carlyle's 
friend '^Dry-as-dust" occasionally creeps into the pulpit; 
but that is not always because, like Mr. Casaubon in 
''Middlemarch," he "is a man of profound learning." It 
is rather because that learning is for the most part "loads 



54 The Miististry 

of learned lumber in his head," and very ancient lumber 
at that. As Mr. Casaubon himself says, ''My mind is 
something like the ghost of an ancient, wandering about 
the world, and trying mentally to construct it as it used 
to be." That is not the minister's task as a teacher. 
Whatever he may know about the Hittites and ephods is 
of value solely as it helps him to deal effectively with the 
Brownville-ites and rubrics of to-day. He can never know 
too much. The one thing needful is to emulate old John 
Robinson, who with all his learning bore it lightly and 
kept in closest touch with the life of the simplest of 
his flock. For the man entering the ministry, what seems 
the longest way round is really the shortest way home. 
Where seminaries like Yale, Union, Princeton, Chicago, 
Andover, and others are in university centers, where they 
belong, it is possible through the selection of electives to 
finish both college and seminary courses in six years in- 
stead of seven. But if this is possible, it is open to serious 
question whether, save in cases of need, this is advisable, 
and the omissions should be made up as soon as possible 
by the minister who would do his best work. 

YIII. Claim Upok Steois^g Mei^^ 

Such is a bird's eye view, a brief analysis, of the work 
of the ministry. The need for strong men to enter it 
is urgent. Strong raen always have been in it, among 
them many of the world's greatest teachers and heroes. 
Strong men are in it now, and an increasing number are 
turning toward it to-day. In a letter to Dr. John R. 
Mott ex-President Roosevelt writes: "This question of 
recruiting men in the ranks of the Christian ministry is 
one of world-wide interest and concern. . . . Small, nar- 
row, one-sided men, no matter how earnest, cannot supply 
leadership for the moral and religious forces which alone 
can redeem the nation. They can do good in their own 
way; but in addition to them, and especially for this par- 



Claim Upon Steong Men 55 

ticular work, the strongest men are needed — men of 
marked personality, who to tenderness add force and 
grasp, who show capacity for friendship, and who to a 
fine character unite an intense moral and spiritual en- 
thusiasm.'^ 

It is a great work. The end, as Beecher paraphrased 
Paul's description in the Epistle to the Ephesians, is 
Manhood ; the means. Truth ; the spirit. Love ; the ideal, 
Christ; the inspiration, the living Spirit of God. In 
such a task the greatest days are naturally not in the 
past hut in the future. The supreme opportunity of the 
ministry is not hehind but before the college graduate of 
to-day. As never, perhaps, in the world's history the 
Son of God is calling strong men to go forth and share 
in the work of bringing in the Kingdom. 

And the strong men are going. They have read with 
enthusiasm the proud history of the world's prophets. 
They have watched them cut their way through the dense 
forests of Africa, plant their stations along the sacred 
rivers of India, explore the recesses of South America 
and cheer the hearts of the fisherfolk on the rugged coasts 
of Greenland and of Labrador. They have seen immoral 
pagan cults vanish and cruel customs disappear before 
the heralds of the Christ. Industry and the arts have 
followed in their footsteps. Education and civilization 
are in large part the fruit of their toil. 

As the younger generation of prophets catches the divine 
fire, they too take the sacred vows upon them. They are 
'^highly resolved," as Lincoln said, that the blessings of 
knowledge and of love shall be imparted to all men every- 
where; that little children shall be spared the horror of 
conditions in which physical health is impossible, and 
chastity and honor are menaced hourly by the terrible 
temptations which beat upon their lives ; that the needless 
industrial ills, bred by a pitiless struggle for existence 
and a merciless competition, shall be done away with ; and 
that the spirit of sonship toward God, the Father, and 



56 The Ministry 

of brotlierliood toward Man, the Son, shall rule in the 
hearts of individuals and in the deeds of nations until 
the vision of the Messianic age, that dream of the past 
and hope of the future, shall be attained. 

"I see my call ! It gleams ahead 
Like sunshine through a loophole shed! 
I know my task; these demons slain, 
The sick earth shall grow sound again; — 
Once let them to the grave be given, 
The fever- fumes of Earth shall fly! 
Up, Soul, array thee! Sword from thigh! 
To battle for the heirs of Heaven!" 

It is a new crusade, and an old one; and the call of 
the Leader rings clear. 'No man is more to be congrat- 
ulated on his choice of a profession than he who, in the 
light of the Christian vision and in the power of the 
Christian impulse, follows in His train. 



II 



THE POEEIGIT MISSIONAEY'S CALLING 

By 

Haelan p. Beach 



CHRISTIAN WORK 
AS A VOCATION 

THE FOEEIGN MISSIONAEY'S CALL^G 

THE man or woman devoting a lifetime to unselfish 
ministry to the manifold needs of peoples in dis- 
tant lands is not the only missionary. Those who 
perform similar offices for the neglected inhabitants of 
the dwindling hill town of ISTew England, of the sparsely 
settled prairie or godless mining center of the West, and 
of the congested, vice-sodden slums of our great cities 
are equally deserving of that honorable name. Yet per- 
sons who exercise their ministry in Africa and Asia do 
it for peoples and civilizations so diverse from those of 
Europe and J^orth America that somewhat different quali- 
fications, preparation and activities must be discussed 
when the foreign missionary's calling is under considera- 
tion. The work of city and home missionaries is covered 
in the main by Professor Tweedy in his contribution to 
this volume, and Professor Bailey in a companion volume ; 
so that only those aspects of the ministry more or less 
peculiar to foreign fields will be considered in this section 
of the volume. 

I. A Goodly Eellowship 

Persons who are considering the possibility of becom- 
ing foreign missionaries are ushered into the presence 
of some of the greatest characters in Christian history, 

beginning with the Son of Man Himself, the foremost 

3 



4 The Foeeign Missionary's Calling 

missionary of all nations and times, the exemplar and 
enabler of an unnumbered multitude who should hear 
later His call and carry on His unfinished task. 

1. The P re-Reformation Apostles. In the infancy of 
the Church, when there remained so much undone at 
home, most of the Twelve carried the Good-news to nations 
at hand and more remote; while the peerless convert, St. 
Paul, tirelessly exercised his ministry from Antioch to 
Rome, possibly to Spain. 

The history of Western Europe is illumined by the 
Christian deeds of Augustine, Patrick, Columba, Aidan, 
Benedict and Ansgar ; while Ulfilas, Cyril and Methodius 
carried the gospel and Christian civilization eastward to 
barbaric peoples. Scores of missionaries, hardly less em- 
inent, during the Middle Ages proved to be indispensable 
aids in the making of Europe; and ISTorth Africa owed 
its enlightenment to missionaries and Churchmen, from 
St. Mark's time until Raymund Lull gave himself to the 
conversion of Moslems, — religionists who had changed the 
Mediterranean's southern littoral from being the light of 
Christendom to the gloom of Mohammedan faith and prac- 
tice. 

2. Post-Reformation Missionaries. While the apostolic 
fires grew dimmer with the centuries, a strong missionary 
impulse followed the discovery of new lands and conti- 
nents, first among Romanists and more tardily among 
Protestant nations. During the last hundred years, the 
rapid development of Africa and Asia has depended quite 
largely upon missionaries acting independently, or as aid- 
ing colonizing powers. N^ot to speak of workers now 
living, a Hall of Fame could be dedicated very appropri- 
ately to heroic and devoted men and women who have 
made some nations what they are and who have built 
up influential Christian communities among other less 
susceptible peoples, despite bitter opposition. 

David Trumbull and Horace Lane carried the breath 
of an evangelical spirit with them to South America, as 



A Goodly Fellowship 6 

they wrought through education and a varied Protestant 
program. James Chalmers and John G. Paton planted 
gospel seed in Pacific islands; and like-minded fellow 
workers earlier had transformed Hawaii into a Christian 
state and the cannibal Pijis for a time into the banner 
church-going section of the world. 

Missionaries, from the day of Verbeck, "the man with- 
out a country" and teacher of the ex-Premier, Marquis 
Okuma, to the late John Hyde DeForest who fell asleep 
after winning Imperial honors and the affection of com- 
moners, have been leading factors in the marvelous de- 
velopment of Japan. The last- and boot-tree maker, Rob- 
ert Morrison, pioneer of Protestantism in China, blazed 
the way for James Legge, prince of translators, Dr. 
Kerr, the most noted of the earlier medical missionaries, 
Dr. Mateer, educator and Bible reviser, Timothy Rich- 
ard, honored alike by Christian converts, literati and the 
Empress Dowager, Griffith John, who touched the hearts 
of Chinese by his tracts and saved their souls through 
the messages of his Welsh eloquence, and Alexander Wylie, 
sinologue and purveyor of the Scriptures to millions. 

]^o man can tell how much India owes to the transla- 
tions of Carey and his companions of the Serampore 
Triad; to Alexander Duff and his Scotch colleagues of 
the educational triangle of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras ; 
to Doctors Scudder, Green and Valentine, forerunners of 
the heads of greater missionary hospitals of to-day; to 
the civil-engineer, preacher and social worker, Dr. Clough, 
under whose direction two thousand two hundred and 
twenty-two Telugus were baptized in a single day; and 
to a host of faithful evangelists — followers of Schwartz, 
their pioneer of two centuries ago, and of the brilliant 
Henry Martyn whose brief candle later burned itself out 
in Persia, aflame at both ends. 

Persia is under unacknowledged and unwilling obliga- 
tions to missionaries, the land where Dr. Grant and Fidelia 
Fiske gave themselves to the "double cure" and to mental 



6 The Foeeigx Missioxaey's Callixq 

and spiritual illumination. The proud capital of the 
Turkish Empire is where Cyrus Hamlin plied his six- 
teen trades and established Robert College, — the maker of 
Bulgaria bv official acknowledgment and the model for 
other Levantine institutions, — and where Schauffler and 
Riggs did their miracles of translation and authorship. 
This obligation extends from the Harput mountainside 
where Wheeler and his colleagues taught and which they 
made the cathedral city of a great circle of Armenian 
Churches, to Syria, with its marvelous litterateur, Van 
Dyck, and the equally famous Dr. Post, and to Jerusalem 
where Bishop Gobat dreamed his prophetic dreams and 
wrought himself into many transformed lives. 

The Dark Continent, especially Black Africa, is only 
just emerging from its millenniums of savagery and 
gloom ; and missionaries undisputably have done more for 
its dusky inhabitants than commerce and trade, than the 
gold of Johannesburg and Kimberley's diamonds. Krapf 
and Rebmann planned their Apostle's Street in the form 
of a cross inscribed upon the heart of Africa, with brave 
Rosina Krapf's lonely grave as its eastern starting point. 
A similar cross was actually marked out by the weary 
footsteps of David Livingstone in the Continent's southern 
lobe, its center being the holy place where his heart lies 
buried outside Chitambo's Village, whence faithful 
negroes bore his body for nine months to the shore, when 
it was reverently taken home and laid among Britain's 
famous heroes in TTestminster Abbey. Grenfell and 
Arnot were scarcely less worthy missionary explorers, 
^lackay's engineering skill, simple goodness and fearless 
bravery laid the foundations in Uganda of a Christian 
Kingdom which was to see its first Christian King en- 
throned forty years after Stanley sent to England his 
call for civilizers and teachers. James Stewart of Love- 
dale, whose lofty stone monument on the bare summit of 
an adjacent kopje is as svmbolic and significant as the 
rockhewn tomb of Cecil Rhodes on !Matopo Hills^ was 



The Missionaries' Varied Environment 7 

that statesman's equal; for he was explorer, scholar, edu- 
cator, captain of industry and in all things what the nick- 
name inscribed on his grave connotes, "The Forth-strider,'' 
— as dearly loved by Africans as General Armstrong or 
Booker Washington by American negroes. Moslem Africa 
in extending itself southward from its northern lobe, has 
prevented thus far much missionary work because of its 
intolerance. Yet to be so formative an influence there as 
James Hogg, "the Master Builder of the ]^ile," is to 
have lived to see one's coronation day. 

Time fails to tell of numberless other heroes of the 
faith who transformed kingdoms, wrought righteousness 
and obtained promises through their undying love and 
dynamic trust. Any one who will read a dozen missionary 
biographies, will fully realize the goodliness of the fel- 
lowship to which missionaries are called and will under- 
stand its strenuous demands and its priceless rewards. 

II. The Missionaries' Varied Environment 

The United States Navy, when recruiting for its some- 
what unattractive service, issues brightly colored litho- 
graphs of tropical lands which marines may one day see 
in the course of their training, or when assigned to West 
Indian or Far-Eastern stations. The foreign missionary 
spends his life abroad, not on hot warships, with occa- 
sional brief periods of shore leave, but constantly amid 
such delightful scenes — and others as repellent to the 
Occidental as these posters are alluring. 

1. Mission Lands and Landscapes. Paradisaic Japan ; 
the tropical beauties of the South Seas, Malaysia and the 
Philippines; Burma, Ceylon and seductive Siam — three 
flashing emeralds on the fringe of Southern Asia ; the Vale 
of Kashmir and mission stations under the towering peaks 
of the Himalayan range with "the Snows" always in sight ; 
portions of scenic China, especially its Switzerland, the 
Province of Fukien ; the highlands of British East Africa 



8 The Foeeigx Missio]s^aey's Calling 

and Uganda, with sections of West Africa: these and 
other smaller divisions the world over are the gardens 
of God, looked upon from an aesthetic point of view. 

But the world also has its forbidding and less beautiful 
harvest fields. Missionaries through the months-long 
night of the Arctic Circle and in dreary Tierra del Fuego, 
the ^^farthest South" of Missions, are deserving of sym- 
pathy from other than climatic points of view. Out- 
posts bordering on the desert are similarly unattractive 
— sections of Arabia and Mongolia, the sandy wastes of 
parts of Persia and northwestern India, southern Argen- 
tina, sections of the western Andean slopes, ISTorthern 
Australia and above all stations which will one day be 
found in the habitable sections of southern Algeria and 
the Sahara, even as they now are in the scarcely less 
barren Kalahari Desert of South Africa. Yet all these 
fields have their subtle charms, as do arid regions like the 
high feldt and karroo of South Africa. 

2. Their Climatic Variations. Missionaries labor in 
all climates from the frigid to the torrid. Very few 
fields are favored with such temperature as one finds in 
the United States and Canada and in most of Europe. 
Candidates must be prepared for extremes of heat and 
humidity even in latitudes where one would not expect 
them, as in Xorth China and most of Japan. In the 
Torrid Zone, if the altitude is sufficiently great, life is 
very easily endurable; though under the equator a mile 
above sea level, the long nights are very chilling. Happily 
in warm countries, men discard the relatively heavy 
clothing of ^orth America and Great Britain and dress 
for the climate. Missionaries in the Temperate Zones 
are likely to suffer from the cold in winter because of 
inadequate heating arrangements. Another climatic trial 
to be expected in most fields is the hot and dry seasons, 
both of which are somewhat hard to bear. In general, 
however, it may be said that no matter what the climate 
is, the missionary becomes acclimated in a season or two, 



The Missionaries' Varied Environment 9 

so that neither health nor usefulness is seriously affected. 
Siestas, frequent baths, suitable clothing and cooling de- 
vices invented for one's comfort make life even in India 
very comfortable. Moreover, most missionary boards have 
competent physicians who examine every candidate, and 
they will not advise sending a person to a field where 
health is likely to suffer. 

3. Hygienic Differences. Hygienic conditions are not 
what they are in developed civilizations; though Japan 
and much of Latin America are exceptions in this respect, 
as are certain cities in other countries. Lack of drainage 
and proper sewerage, an impure water supply, the pres- 
ence of decaying vegetable and animal material, and the 
anopheles mosquito are the principal sources of disease. 
Yet the missionary can in many cases remedy the situa- 
tion in his own immediate vicinity, thus surrounding 
himself with a safety zone, except when epidemics, like 
cholera and plague, sweep over a city. In country sta- 
tions and in the interior of South Africa conditions are 
fairly good. 

4. Health and Disease. Climate and hygienic condi- 
tions varying as they do, the missionary's health is cor- 
respondingly affected. The Caribbean and Gulf of Guinea 
littorals, to a less extent the coasts of East Africa and 
northeastern Brazil, low-lying river banks in the tropics, 
particularly those of the Amazon and iNTiger, and regions 
where the anopheles mosquito and the tsetse fly of sleep- 
ing-sickness districts abound are most to be avoided by 
persons of limited physical stamina. In some tropical 
fields the liver is an organ which must be cared for; 
and exercise, especially recreative social games, become 
part of the daily duty of the worker as a prophylactic. 
Temperate Zone mission stations are usually fairly health- 
ful, except when epidemics of various sorts are present. 
Even then smallpox and typhoid can be avoided by vac- 
cination or inoculation, and the much dreaded plague 
rarely attacks foreigners. Few classes of workers are so 



10 The Foeeig^ Missioitaiiy's Calling 

well cared for medically as missionaries ; since the boards 
either send out medical men and women to their fields, 
or else competent physicians are within reach and are 
employed at mission expense. It is true that many mis- 
sionaries are invalided home, but this is commonly due 
to their lack of seK-restraint when duties too numerous 
or too nerve-trying are undertaken. Few of them have 
the will to turn aside resolutely from service that is over- 
taxing; though if they would do so, they might thereby 
be enabled to serve longer. Conscience is apt to become 
morbid, and the overburdened worker either continues his 
ineffective efforts, or a total breakdown sends him home 
prematurely and often permanently, i^aturally this hap- 
pens oftenest with women workers. 

III. The Differing Constituencies Served 

1. Languages of the Mission Fields. The peoples to 
whom one goes vary greatly. Their languages differ in 
degree of difficulty of acquisition, some being relatively 
easy, while others call for prolonged patience and an 
accurate ear, or a full mastery of the organs of speech. 
Such linguistic peculiarities as the tones of China and the 
clicks of Southeast Africa are troublesome to many, while 
the gutturals of Arabic are equally difficult for others. 
The grammatical niceties of certain languages of India 
are in striking contrast to a practical lack of grammar 
in China, where declension, conjugation and gender are 
delightfully absent. The use of honorifics, as in Japan 
and Burma, are a stumbling-block to beginners and often 
through life, and the numeratives of the Chinese are sim- 
ilarly taxing to missionaries in their land. 

Fortunately most of the dialects of India have a Sans- 
krit foundation, and so the vocabulary is made easier for 
one who needs to know the speech of adjacent peoples. 
The same is even more true of the common basis of the 
Bantu languages of Africa's southern lobe. Latin- Ameri- 



The Differing Constituencies Served 11 

can missionaries can readily understand when the Portu- 
guese-speaking Brazilian converses v^ith his Spanish- 
speaking friend from Peru. 

While candidates for v^hom spoken foreign languages 
have proved difficult may v^ell consider this in express- 
ing their preference of field, it should be remembered 
that language schools are being established in the prin- 
cipal mission countries. The help there afforded and 
that previously received in home institutions where pho- 
netics is properly taught make language acquisition vastly 
easier than French or German in America, where neither 
is spoken by the people and where teaching methods are 
often antiquated. 

2. The Variant Stages of Culture. Variant strata 
of culture are encountered in mission work, ranging from 
the primitive stage of the Australian Blackfellow and the 
African Pigmy or Bushman, to the rejuvenated civiliza- 
tion of ancient China and the Occidentalism of Japan. 
Probably the average candidate would prefer to labor 
among the more cultivated peoples of the Far East or 
of Southern Asia, imagining that primitive peoples are 
hopelessly wanting in ability and inclination to rise. As 
a matter of fact primitive culture is marvelously adapted 
to peoples of that grade; and when they see reasons for 
changing to a more advanced stage, they have proved 
their ability to make the transition in a period which 
causes the process of evolution unaided by higher civiliza- 
tions to seem criminally slow when it might be so easily 
accelerated. As a rule the less developed races call for 
greater ability and versatility in the missionary than do 
the more advanced nations, since they need to have so 
much more done for them in various departments of life. 
Moreover, they are more docile and eager to accept what 
the missionary brings than are the self-satisfied and criti- 
cal, sometimes supercilious, heirs of ancient civilizations 
who have already taken on the veneer of Occidental pro- 
gress. 



13 The Poeeigx Missioxaey's Calling 

3. Religious Dijferentioe. Religious differentise are 
equally noticeable as one views the world fields. The 
scarcely discernible traces of religion among the Lumbwa 
on the eastern shores of Victoria Xyanza, or in aboriginal 
Australia, pass on into the animism of many lands. Pop- 
ular Hinduism and even the Shintoism of advanced Ja- 
pan contain much of the same element. Hinduism and 
Brahmanism in their higher aspects have an attraction 
for Occidentals, and their underlying philosophy is as 
subtle and as obscure as any Western system of meta- 
physics. Buddhism, especially in its northern forms, 
satisfies the millions of Far-Eastern adherents of that 
faith, as it does eclectic perverts in the Occident. Con- 
fucianism has an ethic which ranks second among those 
held to-day, in the opinion of many; while in its exalta- 
tion of ancestor worship it reverts to unreasoning animism. 
Mohammedanism possesses still the eternal truth and mis- 
leading falsehood of its endlessly repeated creed, and its 
social effects are for the most part sadly blighting. The 
contact of Christianity and modern civilization with these 
faiths has given rise to many modifications and reforms 
that appeal to the thoughtful missionary who would use 
the truth that exists in them to build thereon the Chris- 
tian superstructure which contains those elements and 
far more important ones besides. 

Amid this conglomerate of superstitions and creeds and 
their background of mythological folklore and sacred 
canons, the Christian missionary stands with the Bible 
in his hand, the love of God in his heart and the com- 
mission of the Saviour of mankind ringing in his ears, 
ready to help in every brotherly way these votaries at a 
score of shrines. Broken lights flicker all about him.; 
the Light of the World shines full in his face; from his 
torch an increasing multitude catch the flame, and their 
darkened dwellings become centers of light. In lands 
where Roman Catholicism and the Oriental Churches are 
already established, the missionaries represent the freedom 



The Differing Constituencies Served 13 

and vitality of evangelical Christianity as contrasted with 
the dead formality, ignorance of Scripture and general 
absence of a true spiritual life of the Roman, Greek, 
Coptic, ISTestorian and Gregorian Churches. In Latin 
America, Egypt, the Levant and Persia, therefore, workers 
need to know the peculiarities of these other forms of 
Christianity; and, more important still, they should pos- 
sess the characteristics of the Protestant faith which dif- 
ferentiate it from those older forms of Christian belief. 
They should realize also that their own faith and life 
can be saved from similar failure and powerlessness only 
as they refresh and energize them through constant con- 
tact with the guiding Word and the ever living Christ, 
and through the practice of the presence of God. 

4. Probable Racial Futures. Racial futures vary 
greatly, if we may judge from past history. Some races 
are apparently decaying, though the fostering care of virile 
governments may delay decay, as in the case of the South 
Sea and Andaman Islanders and the ISTorth American In- 
dians. While it is probable that races of the l^orth Tem- 
perate Zone are surer of a more dynamic future, India's 
third of a billion are descendants of ancestors of remote 
Yedic times, and are likely to flourish as long as time 
endures, with increasing mentality and a more rational 
religious life. Negroes not only have lived practically 
unchanged from a period prior to the oldest Egyptian 
monuments, but they are to-day virile and are proving 
themselves wonderfully susceptible to a high degree of 
development. Latin America's seventeen million Indians 
seem more vitative than their N^orth American relatives; 
and the Incas and Aztecs may yet have equally strong 
posterity in the mountains of Mexico and along the An- 
dean chain, if they are properly aided and protected from 
white aggression. Even in the case of the weakest races, 
certain to dwindle and finally die out, as the Tasmanians 
and Bushmen, it is a most Christian act to minister to 
the perishing remnants of such peoples. 



14 The Foreign Missionaey's Calling 

5. Variations in Receptiveness and Opposition. To 
mention only one other point of difference between the 
races among whom a choice may be made, Missions suc- 
ceed in the ratio of racial receptiveness or opposition to 
the Christian message and life. At present, certain sec- 
tions of the world are practically closed against Christian 
Missions, Moslem Afghanistan and Baluchistan and La- 
maistic Tibet especially. In general, Mohammedan conn- 
tries are least ready to receive missionaries. Southern 
Buddhistic countries, Burma, Ceylon and Siam, do not 
oppose their coming; but Christian effort is largely fruit- 
less in those lands, though not among non-Buddhistic peo- 
ples living there, as the Karens in Burma and the Hindus 
of northern Ceylon have proved. In caste-ridden India a 
readier response is met with among the more than fifty 
million untouchables than among caste people; and the 
Miao and other aborigines of China receive the gospel far 
more willingly than the neighboring Chinese. These dif- 
ferences in point of receptivity, however, are more largely 
due to the religion of a country than to racial qualities. 
It is a mooted question among many as to whether it is 
wise to expend much labor upon peoples who persistently 
reject the gospel, when the missionary force is so inade- 
quate that millions who are willing to receive Christianity 
have none to minister to them. 

IV. !N^ATUEE OF THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE 

1. It Is Creative. Though missionary work is often 
called creative, it is only relatively so, particularly among 
the more advanced races. Primitive society furnishes 
very little to build upon. When Christianity comes into 
its experience, old things pass away and all things in a 
sense become new. Yet compared with work in Christian 
lands, this enterprise is creative in many respects. The 
missionary not only causes "two blades of grass to grow 
where only one grew before,'' but he introduces fruits 



!N"ature of the Missionary Enterprise 15 

and vegetables to nourish peoples who had never seen them 
hitherto and who bless him for this addition to their 
menu. JSTew industries, new mechanical powers, new edu- 
cation, new moral and religious ideas, new laws, formerly 
unheard of, are the product of this new creation which 
brings help and relief to an order that groans and labors 
in pain, waiting for the day of its redemption. 

2. Mission Work Is Supplementary and Complemen- 
iary. The enterprise is always both supplementary and 
complementary, destructive and constructive. The foun- 
dations have iDeen laid from the beginning, and the wise 
missionary bears the commission of the youthful Jere- 
miah: ^^See, I have this day set thee over the nations 
and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down 
and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant." 
.Tust as the Union of South Africa, in reorganizing British 
and Boer law after the union, found that neither nation 
had done as well as the untutored negro in certain matters 
affecting tribal law and usages and consequently reverted 
to them, so missionaries are to find in existing beliefs 
and customs the elemental stuff which is to be examined 
and either used or rejected in the Christian society which 
they are sent to found. This calls for a thorough acquaint- 
ance with Christianity and its civilization and also for 
an equally accurate knowledge of the beliefs and institu- 
tions of races to whom missionaries minister. Thus 
equipped, they are competent to perform Jeremiah's deli- 
cate and important task. 

3. Evolutionary Character of the Task. The place of 
Missions in evolution is a very important one. The most 
conservative supporter of the enterprise who looks upon 
Darwin and his continuators with holy fear, nevertheless 
notes with joy the change that took place in the Hawaiian 
Islands during the fifty years of missionary work which 
metamorphosed raw heathen into material for a Christian 
state. Christianity becomes the adjuvant of inexorable 
law and not only enables the fittest to survive in increas- 



16 The Fobeigx Missioxaey's CAELI^'G 

iug strength, but also imparts to the unfit that divine 
capacity which often makes them leaders among the most 
fit. It takes the outcaste of India whose ancestors since 
the Laws of pre-Christian Manii have been despised and 
rejected of men, with little religion and less mentality, and 
makes him the teacher of Sudra children, or even of 
Brahmin boys and girls. His uplift incites caste people 
to new exertions toward progress ; and so caste men and 
oiitcastes alike are evolved into such men and women as 
they would not have been for generations without this new 
evolutionary force. It goes without saying that mission- 
aries who have studied the evolution of society and the 
place that Christianity should have in that process will 
labor more intelligently and effectively than those who 
do not know what science has to teach in this realm. 

4. It Is Human — Man in His Entirety. The task is 
human from one point of view, affecting the entire man 
in all his activities and powers. Perhaps the early mis- 
sionaries emphasized unduly '"heathen" souls, and too 
little was done for their bodies and their obstnictive en- 
vironment. To-day this is not true ; indeed, spiritual fea- 
tures of the enterprise are in danger of being neglected. 
Because of modern views as to the effect of environment 
upon life, the program, as will be seen later, is a very 
broad one, calling for versatility or specialization, ac- 
cording to the plans of a given mission. 

5. It Is Divine as Bespeds Missionary and Convert. 
Yet now, as heretofore, the central objective of Missions 
is a religious and spiritual one. It is God's enterprise, 
and the old dictum of Henry Venn is still heeded, ''Spirit- 
ual men for a spiritual work." As streams do not rise 
higher than their source, missionaries are called upon 
to be examples of holy and spiritual living, as well as to 
be genuinely human in their attitude toward men. 

It is a divine enterprise in still another sense — the 
direct working of the Spirit of God and of the saving 
grace of Jesus Christ in the lives of inquirers and con- 



Nature of the Missionary Enterprise 17 

verts. To assume that all that is needed is proper in- 
struction and better surroundings, with a slight addition 
of will power, and that true conversion will ensue is to 
mistake wholly the divine method in all lands. It is even 
more forgetful of the surroundings of non-Christian peo- 
ples. Remember that customs, traditions, laws oftentimes, 
are against the new life in Christ. Try to realize how 
inimical to the new faith are the superstitions and teach- 
ings of the old religion. N^o wonder that Henry Martyn 
looked upon a Hindu's conversion as scarcely less won- 
derful and probable than to see a man rise from the dead. 
The missionary task is a human-divine synergism, — God 
working through men and women obedient to His will 
to effect the regeneration of individuals, races and even 
national life. 

6. Supervision at Home and Afield. The work done 
on foreign missionary fields is one that is supervised and 
conditioned by others. Wholly independent action is not 
possible usually; though missionaries have some degree 
of initiative, especially if no other worker is at the same 
station. In a sense this is greatly hampering, since one 
must be obedient to the decisions of the Mission at its an- 
nual meetings. On the other hand it is a distinct advan- 
tage to the cause that junior missionaries, filled with the 
ideas of workers in Occidental lands and still imperfectly 
acquainted with their new field and people, are not per- 
mitted to adopt measures that longer experience would 
have prevented their proposing. The collective wisdom 
of an entire Mission is surer to be correct than the single 
viewpoint of even the wisest newcomer. 

It does not always happen that the supervision coming 
from home committees is for the best interests of the 
cause abroad. If the secretaries of the home board have 
been frequently on the field, there is little likelihood of 
being hampered by Occidental restrictions ; if no member 
of that board has visited its missionaries, there is danger 
of unwise home legislation. Each year there is an in^ 



18 The Foeeign Missionary's Calling 

creasing tendency to permit the missionaries and foreign 
conditions to decide questions of field policy. 

7. International Cooperation. Limitation of another 
sort comes from the modern tendency toward interdenomi- 
national cooperation, especially in Mexico, Japan, China 
and India. Here a Mission is often called upon to give 
up well-established usages in order to conform to a norm 
decided upon by the country's Continuation Committee, 
or by some local or general conference. Here again the 
probability is that the united wisdom of missionaries 
from various parts of the field is a safer guide than that 
of a single Mission. 

The problem is more difiicult when Occidental countries 
are almost equally represented as to the number of mis- 
sionaries on th.e field. Even British and l^orth American 
mission policies vary; and as each country has a some- 
what different theory of conducting missions, each re- 
garding its own as greatly superior, friction or hard feel- 
ing may ensue. Continental Europe has a missions-the- 
ory, largely German, which is still more variant and di- 
visive when imposed upon English-speaking societies. 
South Africa and to a less extent India are the only lands 
where this last limitation is likely to be detrimental to 
harmony. 

8. The Enterprise Is Inclusively Complex. The pro- 
spective missionary has seen abundant evidence in this sec- 
tion to admit that the phrase ^^comprehensively complex," 
is a summary characterization of the missionary's task. 
When the following section on the program of Missions 
has been read, it will become even more apparent. Those 
contemplating the possibility of taking up the work will 
see how broad an enterprise they are undertaking. Surely 
there is largeness here. If they have shrunk from decid- 
ing upon the home ministry because of hampering limita- 
tions or smallness of any sort, there is little of it abroad 
— nothing of it except limitations of personal ability to 
accomplish a manifold task, or those imposed upon them 



Phases of the Missionary Program 19 

at first because of lacking experience and wisdom. As 
Angelo criticized a pupil's work with the single word 
"Amplius/' so many a laborer at home might have the 
same need of breadth, while the missionary is rarely open 
to the exhortation, ^^Broader!" 

V. Phases of the Missionary Program 

1. Evangelistic Activities. Most important, as well 
as most widely present, is the evangelistic work of Mis- 
sions. This is carried on by practically all the workers, 
no matter what their special duties may be. In the guest- 
hall, in the jungle, by the wayside, in bazaars and markets, 
at great fairs, in street chapels and hospital waiting- rooms, 
in native homes whither groups have come as at banquets 
to which Jesus was invited in Palestine, the missionary 
embraces the opportunity to talk simply about the great 
facts of Jesus and His gospel of a loving Heavenly Father 
and of His mercy and goodness to men. The manger, the 
Life of lives, the sacrificial death, the resurrection and 
ascension, the Acts of the Holy Spirit working in and 
through believers, the ever-living, always-loving Saviour, 
faith, hope, charity — the eternal three, are central 
themes. But sin is flagrantly present in every life; how 
can it be forgiven, how escaped ? Death and evil in man- 
ifold forms threaten or oppress. Sickness, direst poverty, 
hatred and a horde of harmful emotions are always with 
communities. Where is the path of deliverance to be 
found? These and a thousand other commonplaces of 
daily life make the Evangel good-tidings indeed. Espe- 
cially attractive is the thought of the many mansions of 
the Heavenly Home where the waiting Father of all na- 
tions stands ready to welcome His children — a better issue 
out of a storm-tossed life than Asia's prevalent doctrine 
of transmigration or Islam's sensuous Paradise for men 
— at the cost of its being a Hell for their heavenly para- 
mours. 



20 The Foreign Missioxaey's Calling 

2. Pastoral Woj'lc. A corollary of evangelistic work 
is the pastoral-ecclesiastical outcome of such labors. The 
infant Church is born when the two or three gathered 
together with Christ in the midst are spiritually fitted 
for its establishment. It may begin as "the church in 
the house," of the missionary or of some chosen member; 
but it soon reaches the dignity of possessing a local habi- 
tation, and of having officers and a pastor. This latter 
dutv often falls to the missionarv, particularlv in. earlv 
stages of work in a given field. Read St. Paul's epistles 
to Timothy and Titus, if the character of such an office 
is to be understood. The mission's polity will determine 
the specific program; but believers are still one's ''chil- 
dren" among simple and ignorant folk, and '^brethren" 
among the more advanced peoples. To the three-fold task 
of missionaries of the last century has been added a fourth 
mark of the developed native Church, toward which its 
minister must daily strive to lead its halting membership. 
To make it self-supporting, self-propagating and self-gov- 
erning is hard enough; to add the later specification of 
'^national," as contrasted with an exotic organization, un- 
assimilated, dependent and having no indigenous traits 
and nation-wide infiuence, is the task of the twentieth 
century, when the membership is sufficiently developed 
to make it wise. 

Church discipline, to select but one duty of this pastor, 
is most difficidt to administer. In lands where there is a 
prevalent standard of ethics helpful to a moral life, the 
Christian finds it difficult enough to avoid conformity to 
degrading or destructive views of conduct. In countries 
where there is no Christian sentiment to correct the preva- 
lent immorality, it is almost impossible for the new con- 
vert to keep himself unspotted from the world. Tempta- 
tions are on every hand ; tempters arise to draw him down 
again : and the more heinous the sin yielded to, the more 
likely he is to give up his new faith in despair. Read 
the closing verses of the first chapter of Romans and see 



Phases of the Missionary Peogram 21 

there the picture of the non-Christian world on its sexual 
side. The entire Decalogue is as thoughtlessly broken by 
the average Hindu, with the exception of murder, as by 
the Romans of St. Paul's day. Infractions of the Pourth 
and Seventh Commandments occasion the most difficulty 
in mission churches; but theft, open or through filching 
and ^^squeezes/' is almost equally troublesome. The First 
Epistle to the Corinthians is. a more varied transcript of 
the modern missionary pastor's book of discipline. Liti- 
giousness in India is another most perplexing phase of the 
pastor's trials, though it rarely calls for church action. 

The ecclesiastical aspects of the foreign missionary's 
life are likewise puzzling, sometimes absolutely baffling. 
He stands as a mediator between his converts and the 
Church at home whose polity was never adapted for any 
except Occidental Christians. To hark back to Macaulay's 
statement, where men worship cows and monkeys, the 
differences between Anglican and ]^on-conformist views 
seem trifling. The new converts find themselves belonging 
to a score of slightly differing denominations whose re- 
spective shibboleths they neither understand nor care to 
adopt. "Why should the body of Christ be thus divided ? 
Why not return to the simplicity of the Apostolic 
Church ?" Such in effect is the prevalent, though not 
the universal feeling, and the missionary must mediate 
between his flock and a reluctant denomination in America 
or Europe. We quote a single example found in the 
Kikuyu Alliance Constitution of 1918, five years after 
the bitter Kikuyu Controversy had broken out. "We, 
being profoundly convinced for the sake of our common 
Lord and of those African Christians to whom our con- 
troversies are as yet unknown, of the need for a united 
Church in British East Africa, earnestly entreat the home 
authorities to take such steps as may be necessary, in 
consultation with the Churches concerned, to remove the 
difficulties which at present make this ideal impossible." 

He must be an ecclesiastic on an even broader scale, 



22 The Foeeigx Missiois^aey's Calling 

as are his colleagues, whether ministers or laymen. An 
extension of the feeling just stated has led the missionary 
body of Korea to combine the four Presbyterian families 
laboring there into one; and in Japan three Methodist 
bodies were similarly minded. In India an even larger 
number of denominations bearing Presbyterian names 
have organized under one General Assembly. And in 
South India British and American Congregationalists, 
the United Free and the Established Churches of Scot- 
land, the Dutch Reformed and the Basel Missions, are 
one body known as the South India United Church, with 
negotiations proceeding with the Anglicans and the Mar 
Thoma Syrian Church, whose traditional founding goes 
back to St. Thomas in a.d. 52. Many minor combinations 
have been effected, and still more widespread is the ap- 
plication of federation and cooperative ideas. This pro- 
phetic movement has cost years of argument, mainly with 
the home lands; and missionaries have been the prime 
factors in the ecclesiastical transformation looking toward 
the materialization of Christ's prayer, "That they may 
all be one." One such man as Bishop Brent, formerly 
of the Philippines, has accomplished more toward making 
this foreign missionary by-product the possession of his 
own Church and other denominations than a dozen emi- 
nent Episcopal bishops could have accomplished without 
his initiative. It is manifest that Christians who are 
unable to see no good thing in any denomination except 
their own would better not become foreign missionaries. 
3. Medical Missions. A specialized item of our pro- 
gram is its medical work. Climatic, sanitary and hygienic 
conditions being what they are, and the native quacks and 
doctors being wholly unfitted to cope with diseases and 
epidemics which carry off annually their millions, tens of 
thousands of whom might have been saved by Western 
medicine and surgery, this branch of the enterprise is 
obviously important in most mission fields. Even in the 
least needy countries of Japan and Latin America, medi- 



Phases of the Missionary Program 23 

cal work has its place, particularly in the sparsely settled 
sections of Mexico, Central and South America. China, 
India — despite its government dispensaries and hospitals, 
the Moslem world and Africa are the greatest of these 
fields; but doctors are also required for Latin America, 
Siam and Laos and the Pacific Islands. 

At present Medical Missions have not gone beyond the 
stage when the majority of practitioners are laboring alone 
in a dispensary or hospital, with no colleague to share 
their varied burdens. There are ordinarily no specialists 
to whom they can refer eye cases, delicate surgical opera- 
tions of other sorts, obstetrical emergencies, plague prob- 
lems, or even dentistry of the simplest description. The 
medical missionary thus becomes a specialist in almost 
everything; though his skill may be attained in the man- 
ner suggested by the saying among missionary operators 
on Chinese cataracts — "at the cost of half a bushel of 
eyes." 

A new era has just been ushered in by the China Medi- 
cal Board of the Rockefeller Foundation. Through its 
munificence, missionary hospitals have been better staffed 
and financed ; four central institutions for teaching medi- 
cine and nursing have been specially aided in order to 
prepare selected Chinese for the profession ; foreign schol- 
arships are provided for medical work in the Occident 
that talented graduates and medical professors may avail 
themselves of the latest discoveries and theories of the day ; 
pathological laboratories and special research work are 
provided for most efficiently; the nursing profession in 
China is being developed in connection with these central 
medical schools, as well as in hospitals complying with 
certain conditions ; and, to crown the enterprise, their six- 
million-dollar plant at Peking, with an adequate staff, 
will become one of the greatest medical institutions in 
the world. All this looks toward the period of specializa- 
tion, both for the Faculty and their Chinese graduates. 

Medical Missions aim to make the work a means to 



24 The Foreign Missionary's Calling 

an even more important end than the healing of bodies 
and the sanitation and hygiene of backward peoples. It 
affords the best opportunity for prolonged contact with 
persons who are in the attitude of grateful appreciation 
and who see vital Christianity at close range. To dis- 
tant homes the patients go with stories of missionary 
healing which to many seem as wonderful as the miracles 
of the gospels. The doctor has held daily services, brief 
oftentimes, sometimes prolonged, but always pointing pa- 
tients to the Healer of souls, as well as of diseased bodies. 
Their gratitude after recovery makes them desirous to 
further the doctor's cause by contributions when possible 
and always by a loyal endorsement of the hospital or 
dispensary and of the religion which makes such altruism 
and self-sacrifice available. 

4. The Educational Program. The educational fea- 
tures of mission work are not confined to the schoolroom 
by any means. An unending series of varied questions 
assails the missionary ; his replies constitute a most effec- 
tive means of imparting information that is educative. 
The preacher is far more of a teacher there than here, 
as his auditors know nothing of his Bible and of its 
ethical and religious teachings. Mere exhortation and es- 
say sermons are alike useless in new fields. Exposition 
and application to daily needs of Scripture truths are 
fundamental in this teaching-preaching. 

Education, properly speaking, ranges from the kinder- 
garten to the university; though there are very few insti- 
tutions deserving the latter name. The bulk of education, 
as statistics show, is done through common day or village 
schools of primary and grammar grades, as an American 
would describe them. The reading-sheet and blackboard 
have made Uganda what that kingdom is ; and other 
equally simple methods through the kralls of South Africa 
have raised men and women, as well as children, through 
the weary length of the alphabet into creditable literacy. 
The mat-shed or al fresco schools of Ceylon and India 



Phases of the Missionary Progeam 25 

are the stepping-stones toward the British Government's 
P.A., B.A., and M.A., so eagerly sought after by aspiring 
Singhalese and Indian students. In all mission fields 
except Japan and certain Papal lands, these simple schools 
are welcomed, — closed countries not being included, of 
course. Their main objective is to supply rudimentary 
education to children of the Church, and biblical and 
other religious teaching is central. 

Boarding-schools afford the best leverage of an intensive 
sort possessed by the missionary. Pupils are segregated 
in a Christian community for a prolonged period, during 
which time they are removed from the temptations and 
destructive influences of the non-Christian environment. 
At the same time, vacations send them out into their 
homes and communities to manifest the change wrought 
in their lives through Christian education. Those who 
are day students at such institutions, or who are taught 
continuously by a missionary, receive something of the 
same benefit from this close and continuous contact with 
strong Christian educators. A number of Japan's Elder 
Statesmen owed a debt to Dr. Yerbeck that they have 
acknowledged ; while the Japanese Church owes still more 
to Captain Janes, a Christian educator in a government 
school whose students of the Kumamoto Band exercised 
a greater influence, perhaps, than any other group of its 
size. 

Higher institutions possess similar advantages, though 
too few of them are well enough staffed and equipped to 
allow of their accomplishing what they otherwise might. 
When under union auspices, they possess the additional 
advantage of bringing together the most promising youths 
of various denominations, who thus come to know each 
other fully and who later as leaders in the Church will 
aid the growing cause of unity. This is particularly de- 
sirable for institutions for theological training. 

Industrial education is an increasing force in missions. 
It is most demanded in less advanced civilizations like 



26 The Foreign Missionary's Caeling 

Africa, where industries need to be taught in order to 
develop the people and their country. In such fields as 
India and China their value is largely economic and is 
an aid toward the support of dependent pupils and ulti- 
mately of the Church through their graduates. Brazil is 
mainly desirous of them for this latter purpose, and there 
it is to- improve agricultural processes. Indeed, so increas- 
ingly valuable is agricultural instruction becoming, that 
in 1921 an association was established in America in or- 
der to foster and extend agricultural schools in mission 
fields. 

5. Literary Phases of the Tash. Literary work is 
closely related to education. School-books are called for 
by the teacher. Bibles, leaflets, tracts, commentaries and 
a multitude of similar publications are required for the 
Christian propaganda. The developing life of the nation 
can be promoted best through such works as the Christian 
Literature Society of China — to cite the most conspicu- 
ous example — has issued for more than a score of years, 
part of the time under a different society name. Among 
the lower races, languages must be reduced to writing, and 
all the literature they possess is usually provided by mis- 
sionaries. Grammars and dictionaries need to be pre- 
pared for newcomers in lands of ancient culture, like 
Japan, China and India. Dr. Legge was the most con- 
spicuous instance of the elect company of translators of 
Chinese canonical literature, though Dr. Faber was an- 
other missionary who laid the world under obligations by 
his scholarly works on the Classics and Chinese heterodox 
writers. Dr. Murdoch in India and Timothy Richard 
in China will long be remembered for their services in 
organizing and promoting literary societies for those two 
countries. 

Candidates are not sent out specifically for this work. 
ISTo board can foretell the probable future of any most 
promising young missionary. He may prove to be a 
linguistic failure, or he may not have the imagination 



Phases of the Missionary Program 27 

to enable him to enter into the life and spirit of his 
adopted people. Hence the issue reveals the literary man. 
Pilkington of Uganda, peerless among young missionaries 
in his facile and idiomatic use of Luganda, translated 
the entire Bible in the brief life that closed so prematurely 
at the Battle of the Banana Gardens ; but he thereby lives 
on as a principal factor in the marvelous evangelical 
movement, while his body rests behind the cathedral on 
[N'amirembe's summit. The untimely death of William 
Burns in Manchuria was not his end; for with the aid 
of a Chinese whose "stomach was full of the language 
of the land," he had rendered "Pilgrim's Progress" into 
the homely colloquial of the common people in an inimi- 
table way. Similarly, but at the opposite pole of Chinese 
composition, the classical tongue, the late venerable Nestor 
of Chinese missions. Dr. Martin, wrote his thoroughly 
indigenous work on Christian Evidences which for nearly 
half a century led more Chinese and Japanese scholars 
into a knowledge of Christianity than any other volume, 
the Bible not excepted. Dr. Scudder's "Bazaar Books" 
in India were similarly conceived and were useful alike 
for the common folk and humble scholars of half a cen- 
tury ago. These men and many others, like William 
Milne, one of China's pioneers, and Griffith John, were 
born to their task and attained their fame through for- 
getting their own Occidental literary standards and identi- 
fying themselves intimately with the inmost thought and 
viewpoint of their intellectual environment. The Pauline 
maxim of making themselves all things to all men, whether 
barbarian or Greek, together with an undying determina- 
tion to master a strange tongue in its finest shades of 
meaning and most melodious forms of expression and to 
adorn their pages with native gems, to the exclusion of 
Occidental illustrations that themselves need a commen- 
tary, made these literary workers what they were. 

The evangelistic, pastoral to some extent, — read the 
story of Mrs. Ingalls of Burma and Mary Slessor of 



28 The Foreign Missionary's Calling 

Calabar, — medical, educational and to a regrettably lim- 
ited degree the literary phases of the missionary enter- 
prise, are shared in by both men and women. So nearly 
identical are the activities of the two sexes that the Edin- 
burgh World Conference of 1910 gave no separate place 
to woman's work abroad. In general, women missionaries 
deal with two-thirds of the people more effectively than is 
possible for men — the women and children. Indeed, in 
lands where women are secluded in harems and zenanas, 
it is only through their ministry that they can be reached 
at all. As they have the training of children in their 
charge and are the more religious element in the com- 
munity, to win them for Christ is very strategic. 

6. Missionaries and National Development. There is 
a national aspect of Missions that is increasingly emerg- 
ing, particularly in the Far East and in other more ad- 
vanced nations. In Roman Catholic work it had been 
prominent from the beginning of their great missions, 
notably in China and Latin America. Protestants had 
also made their work include the wider community among 
primitives, where men like John Williams in the South 
Seas, Moffat in Africa and the Dutch missionaries in 
Ceylon impressed themselves and Western civilization 
upon entire tribes or peoples. In recent decades there 
have been men who have given themselves to cultivating 
the most influential elements in the mission fields in order 
to reach a wider and more secular constituency for the 
purpose of guiding the renaissant nations into higher 
channels. Yerbeck and DeForest in Japan, Drs. Martin, 
Richard, Reid and Bishop Bashford in China, Principal 
Miller of Madras, Mr. Anderson in Calcutta and Mr. 
Andrews, formerly of Delhi — now with India's poet- 
laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, in educational work; 
Presidents Howard Bliss in Beyrut and MacClenahan in 
Cairo, Frederick Bridgman and Bishop Hartzell in South 
Africa, are examples of this sort of nation builders. The 
Young Men's Christian Association and the Christian lit- 



Phases of the Missionary Program 29 

erature societies are doing more as organizations perhaps 
than any others to further this important interest. Natu- 
rally only men of large caliber, with brotherly and cath- 
olic sentiments and a very wide knowledge and horizon, 
can hope to do much in these directions. Mr. J. H. Old- 
ham, editor of The International Review of Missions, 
Dr. John R. Mott and certain men connected with the 
Continuation Committees established in Asia as the result 
of his conferences in India, China and Japan in 1912-13, 
are foremost in the latest movements in the direction of 
a national missionary statesmanship. 

7. General Utility Worlc of Missionaries. The fore- 
going phases of the enterprise are the outstanding features 
in the missionary program. Yet this summary statement 
fails to give the reader any adequate idea of the outlying 
fields of activity which must be cared for by the general 
utility man and woman, which even the specialist must 
become in emergency. As previously stated, the task calls 
for versatility. As missionaries buying outfits for remote 
stations, many days' or weeks' journey from any shops 
or stores, include a general assortment of almost every- 
thing in their purchases, so most missionaries will find 
occasion for every useful process and all the items of prac- 
tical knowledge that they possess. One must add to St. 
Paul's dictum and ^^do all things for all men," thus touch- 
ing and aiding humanity at as many points as possible. 
"Not only is versatility demanded of missionaries, but as 
the current calls of the mission boards show, a wide range 
of specialties is called for, not included in the ordinary 
program of work. Thus in the January, 1921, issue of 
The Student Volunteer Movement Bulletin, of the entire 
number of such calls, totaling 2,342, a miscellaneous group 
of 147 men were required for the following lines of activ- 
ity : Accountants, agriculturists, architects, business agents, 
carpenters and builders, colporteurs, editors, engineers, 
farm managers, industrial workers, manual training, press 
managers, printers, scout masters, secretaries for leper 



30 The Foeeigx ^issioxaey's Caleixg 

work, social service, student work, SimdaT School special- 
ists, superintendents of hostels, of immigration work and 
of leper asylums, surrey specialists and treasurers. In 
addition, 130 women were desired for these openings: 
Business, housemothers, hostel directors, librarians, sec- 
retaries and accountants, social service, stenographers, and 
Young TVomen's Christian Association Secretaries — SO for 
the last form of work. Surely, the enterprise demands 
all classes and conditions of missionaries. 

VI. FrXDA:ME^'TAL 3I1SSIOXAEY QrALIFICATIOJ?"S 

The reader will now appreciate to some extent what 
manner of persons they should he who offer themselves 
as candidates for foreign missionary service. Probably 
those who are most fit will despair of being able to meet 
such manifold demands as have been enumerated in the 
foregoing pages. Yet it should be remembered that in 
no callino; is the ideal fullv realized and that this one 
is no exception to the general rule. It may be helpful 
to enumerate certain qualifications which are a sort of 
minimum requirement of most missionary societies. 

1. Physical Fitness. Physically candidates should be 
able to pass successfully an examination for life insur- 
ance. "While this is a general rule of many boards, prob- 
ably every one of them has sent out missionaries who 
could not meet such a test. As previously stated, the 
large societies employ medical examiners who know con- 
ditions on the foreign fields and who make many excep- 
tions to this rule, in view of special lands or kinds of 
work to which the candidate may be assigned. Though 
the family physician knows the candidate's medical his- 
tory far better than these experts, he is apt to be wholly 
ignorant of the diseases and strains of foreign climates, 
and hence he overestimates the harmful effects of the serv- 
ice. This is particularly true in the case of women can- 
didates. Decided nervous weakness, chronic indigestion, 



Fundamental Missionary Qualifications 31 

tuberculous tendencies — except for fields like Persia, 
ISTorth and inland South Africa and Argentine — and un- 
usual susceptibility to malaria, are likely to occasion diffi- 
culty abroad. Inability to endure with comfort hot sum- 
mer weather is no disqualification, even for tropical serv- 
ice where the provisions previously mentioned will enable 
the missionary to live in comparative comfort. One whose 
hearing is defective should be assured that it is not likely 
to become worse, since deafness is almost prohibitive of 
close contact with persons whom one must deal with 
through the medium of a language hard enough for one 
with the best ears to understand during the early years 
of service. 

The maintenance of physical fitness on the field is quite 
as important as the initial physical condition. One must 
have will power and consecration enough to care for health 
during the first years in particular — to become a valetudi- 
narian almost, if the physician so requires. So, too, mis- 
sionaries — older as well as younger ones — ought to be 
willing and able to play and otherwise rest. Bishop 
Thoburn attributed his unusual health during a long serv- 
ice in torrid India to his habit of undressing and re- 
tiring as at night for his midday siesta, — a suggestion 
that few are willing to follow, though most workers in 
the tropics set aside time for the noonday rest. Con- 
science, morbidly looking at present opportunities and 
blind to the long life of service to follow, if health is 
maintained, has been the undoing of very many mission- 
aries who were invalided home permanently in conse- 
quence. Men and women who dislike to perspire freely 
and who are too indolent to exercise soon become physi- 
cally unfit and do little effective work. 

2. Mental Qualities Called For. Mental qualifications 
are important in an enterprise that requires so much of 
its workers. Linguistic gifts are desirable: and many 
students have been deterred from taking up this work 
because they have not been superior scholars in Latin or 



32 The Foeeigx Missioxaey's Callixg 

Greek, or in German and French. Such persons should 
realize that living languages, spoken by every one and 
heard constantly, are vastly easier of acquisition than 
dead languages, — easier also than French and German 
as commonly taught through grammars and dicti^^naries. 
When African pickaninnies and Chinese children of five 
years have succeeded in acquiring an almost perfect com- 
mand of their native tongues — though with limited vocab- 
ularies — ^with no teaching of a formal kind but mainly 
through their ear and ceaseless imitation of others, the 
college alumnus need not despair. In general, if a stu- 
dent graduates with a fair grade, he has already proved 
his mental fitness for most missionary requirements. If 
a lower grade is the result of unfaithfulness rather than 
of deficient mentality, it does not prove intellectual un- 
fitness, though it reveals defects of another kind. 

There are other demands upon the intellect than those 
required in the classroom. Mental alertness is very im- 
portant, and so are powers of initiative. Imagination is 
far more useful in mission fields, particularly among 
primitive folk, than in the prosaic Occident. Logical 
acumen is indispensable in discussions with students and 
religious leaders, especially in India and Japan and in 
Moslem lands. Mechanical ability is a practical asset in 
the building period among lower races, when a man must 
be architect and superintend carpenters, masons, brick- 
makers, and blacksmiths, if he does not need to play all 
those roles himself. A mind able to devise an ideal mis- 
sion program for enlarging work and to assimilate the best 
in indigenous methods of procedure and apply them to 
church requirements, as the Indian panchayatj for in- 
stance, is most helpful. 

3. Desirable Social Qualifications. Social qualities are 
the wine and sparkle of life to stimulate stolid common- 
place and add the crowning charm to social intercourse. 
A little more than a century ago a leading member of 
that first Student Volunteer Movement of Williamstown- 



Fundamental Missionary Qualifications 33 

Andover placed over his Seminary door-latch the moni- 
tory words, ^'Millions are perishing!" At that stage of 
the enterprise it was an unwritten watchword of Missions. 
It is no less true to-day than then; but in our time, the 
missionary's thought is centered quite as much upon the 
dying daily of lives that are perishing years before they 
are snuffed out. Just as for generations the Chinese 
name for prison was ^'hell/' so untold millions in many 
lands are finding the place of their imprisonment in their 
environment, which is demoniacal and hellish in some 
particulars. A scholar who was the leader in a prohibited 
Chinese sect, once told the writer after he had been study- 
ing Christianity with him for some months and had be- 
come a trustful Christian, "Being here with you all in 
this happy place is Heaven in truth." Gladness and joy 
and peace are among the fruits of the Tree of Life. 

The missionary goes out into darkened, distraught 
homes with a smile as his greeting, with laughter as the 
entering wedge into a knotty problem of dire poverty or 
of moral defection, and with hearty good-fellowship for 
all in the house, from the roly-poly crying baby to the 
wrinkled grandmother who sits crooning out her woes on 
the edge of her cheerless brick or bough bed. The un- 
discourageably jolly Mr. Jagow, with a laugh that called 
out half a dozen fanatical shopkeepers from the Moham- 
medan stores of Hebron to pass the compliments of the 
day and to be won by his genuine friendliness, found that 
his happy social gifts won for him a knowledge of the 
people and of their hoarsely guttural Arabic tongue. And 
on fuller acquaintance, the men who had fallen before 
the charms of his humanity, were willing in 1908 to come 
at night at the risk of their lives to hear behind locked 
doors the story of the Man of Sorrows who came to bear 
others' burdens and to share their dolorous yoke. At the 
other extremity of Asia, Dr. Walter Lowrie laughed as 
merrily and as genuinely as his Chinese auditors, as they 
cracked jokes and told funny stories together in the tea 



34 The Foreign Missionary's Caelino 

shop, on the slow-going junk, or as the preliminary exer- 
cise for the spell-binding conversation-sermon of this 
"Hail-fellow-well-met" missionary, — who is also known 
as the ''St. John of I^orth China.'' 

''The great human" is attractive, and Asia and Africa 
are marvelously influenced by men and women who have 
the social qualities which constitute part of that charac- 
ter. It is true that such gifts find themselves "cabined, 
cribbed, confined" when they are brought within the circle 
of formal etiquette, particularly as it exhibits itself in 
the extreme forms of China and Japan, now happily 
passing away; yet even here it is abundantly rewarding 
when fully and graciously exercised. It takes a gentle- 
man to catch a gentleman, just as truly as the thief is 
captured most easily by his own pal. 

4. Spiritual Fitness Essential. How can the religious 
nature of non-Christian peoples be transformed, except 
as it is brought into touch with purifying fires and has 
felt the spell of a transfiguring experience ? The smok- 
ing and dimly smoldering spiritual longings of men who 
are groping after God, if haply they may find Him, burst 
into flame when spiritual missionaries minister to them; 
they smolder on, if the holy fire of their leaders has 
burned low. As stated in a previous section, the mission- 
ary enterprise is preeminently spiritual. Strongly forti- 
fied customs, incompatible with purity and progress, and 
religions which are fanatically opposed to the more de- 
manding faith, must be destroyed or regenerated. Moral 
miracles must be wrought in individuals and in the com- 
munity. Missionaries know the truth of Zechariah's state- 
ment, "Not by might — an army, nor by power, but by 
my Spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts." Pentecosts come to 
Korea, to Uganda, to Kamerun, to l^yasaland, to the 
Telugu country; but there has been an individual, or a 
small circle of missionaries and native Christians in an 
upper chamber, or in the long grass before the flame ap- 
pears upon the heads of their leaders. 



Fundamental Missionary Qualifications 35 

Spirituality is a growth in grace, with St. Paul's secret 
underlying it : ^^'Not that I have already obtained, or am 
already made perfect: but I press on, if so be I may lay 
hold on that for which I was also laid hold on by Christ 
Jesus." Like and unlike Bunyan's Evangelist, the mis- 
sionary presses on toward spiritual perfection, with his 
eyes turned heavenward, the Book of books in his hand, 
but with the world upon his heart, rather than as Evan- 
gelist — with it behind his back. Prayer and Scripture 
are the two pillars, Jachin and Boaz, standing before the 
spiritual temple. Through prayer, ^^He shall establish;" 
and, like the Boaz pillar is the Bible, ^^In it is strength." 

5. Leadership Requisite for Highest Success, Increas- 
ingly with the development of the mission fields does this 
complex enterprise call for qualities of leadership. This 
may be paternal with children and youth ; and even among 
the low castes of India, missionaries are mother, father, 
— ^'Ma," ^'Bap," to their adult charges. The same rela- 
tionship is common among African negroes, though in 
the Subcontinent that stage has passed among leaders, as 
it has in Uganda, Natal and Basutoland. Compared with 
that relatively easy task, when, like the Babes in the 
Wood, a man "must be father, mother, both, and uncle 
all in one," is the critical undertaking of guiding ad- 
vanced peoples who have reached an acute stage of self- 
consciousness. Paternalism must here yield to brotherli- 
ness, though it may need to be elder brother and sister 
with all that seniority carries with it in the Orient. In 
the case of the most advanced leaders, it may be impos- 
sible to go before the ranks, with them as subordinate 
officers. Some have advised the missionaries to march 
behind the indigenous leaders. Others find that walking 
side by side expresses the true idea of missionary leader- 
ship in such a case. 

Powers of organization, firmness combined with pliabil- 
ity, sympathy^ catholicity, determination, hopefulness, 
mountain-moving faith and the reality behind the im- 



36 The Foeeigx Missioxaey's Calling 

pression that one is really the friend and ambassador of 
God are the qualities which aid the missionary most as 
he leads the indigenous Christians in their many-sided 
activities for individuals, the Church and the larger com- 
munity. If they are not possessed, some of them may 
be acquired; if already present, they are capable of en- 
larged cultivation. Perhaps the greatest help to an un- 
derstanding of missionary leadership is the study of lives 
of prominent workers on the field, — men like Stewart of 
Africa, Hamlin of Turkey, Duff of India, John of China, 
DeForest of Japan and Chalmers of the South Seas. 

6. Symmetry in the Missionary Cliaracter, One needs 
to add to these fundamental requirements the word ^^sym- 
metry," leaving unmentioned a number of additional qual- 
ifications, among them the rather uncommonly possessed 
"common sense" of the candidate manuals. What is meant 
by symmetry is that the missionary needs to be normal 
and not unduly angular and emphatic in one or two direc- 
tions. The well-rounded worker is likely to be most use- 
ful; though the ^^crank" who attaches himself to a single 
wheel of the missionary mechanism may be more success- 
ful in a few things than his symmetrical colleague in 
those particular items which are only parts of his more 
effective program. There is every temptation for a mis- 
sionary to become "peculiar," especially if located alone 
at a station ; and symmetry is a fine safeguard against 
such a limitation. The emphasis of one particular doc- 
trine, or of one item in church discipline, or of one virtue, 
to the practical neglect of weightier matters thereby ob- 
scured, is harmful to a cause which affects all life and 
conduct. Such a missionary is but little more useful than 
an English lady who resided some years ago in Jerusalem. 
Her "mission staff" consisted of herself and a faithful 
servant. She was an extreme premillenarian ; and with 
the British conviction of the indispensableness to happi- 
ness of a cup of tea for guests, her mission was to keep 
the kettle boiling every minute of the days and nights 



Pkeparation for Missionary Work 37 

until her Lord should return in His glory, when she would 
be the honored person to give Him His first cup of tea ! 

Yet symmetry does not exclude entasis. Architects of 
a few generations ago, admiring the beauty of the Greek 
pillar, strove to reproduce it by following measurements 
made at the top and base of the column. To their chagrin 
and great perplexity, the imitation was a failure, until 
finally they discovered that the ancient pillars had been 
cut with a slight enlargement between base and capital, 
thus producing the desired entasis that their work had 
lacked. It is both possible and desirable for missionaries 
to have their specialties and their avocation, as well as 
their vocation and many-sided work. All that is argued 
for is that the handiwork of these royal builders should 
reflect the breadth and symmetry of Him who was the 
effulgence of the Father's glory, the very carving — x°-P"-'^'^VP 
— of His substance, an effect due to Jesus' entasis in 
great part. "No one will need to be cautioned against an 
undue straining after this missionary charm; for no man 
can fail to prefer the long, graceful curve seen in the 
entasis of the Parthenon pillar to the bulge of a stumpy 
beer keg. 

VII. Preparation for Missionary Work 

1. Lacking in Earlier Missions. In 1886, when the 
Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions came 
into existence, North America knew practically nothing 
of any special preparation for the work abroad. The doc- 
tor took the usual course in the medical school, ordinarily 
three years in length, with no hospital experience and 
no special surgical practice. The rest of the men went 
to the theological seminary and took the same studies as 
American ministers were pursuing in order to fit them 
' — supposedly — for the most effective work in I^orth 
America. Women had practically no special preparation. 
In Europe it was better and worse : worse, in that a great 



38 The Foreign Missionary's Calling 

many women and many men candidates had had no col- 
legiate training and few of them any -university advan- 
tages; better, in that this limited education made it nec- 
essary to require attendance at training institutions for 
prospective missionaries, where they received specialized 
education, with some supplementary cultural courses and 
a thorough grounding in Scripture and theology. Ger- 
many, where scarcely a missionary had had a university 
degree, was far more thorough. A six years' course, or 
longer, gave candidates cultural studies and a broad mis- 
sionary preparation, based on the theory of making it 
possible for a graduate to fill any sort of specialized 
position made vacant by the furloughs of associates. 

2. New Impulses from the Volunteer Movement. The 
advent of the American Student Volunteer Movement 
soon led to various forward steps. In 1894 classes, in- 
tended primarily for informing its candidates concerning 
the fields to which they were to go, were started in a few 
institutions with an enrollment of about two hundred. 
That work has been enlarged and strengthened through 
study classes using scores of text-books on Missions and 
enrolling in the year 1914, just before the War, a total 
of 37,542 students in 2,458 classes established in 591 
institutions in forty-threo states, as well as in Canada. 
This number includes practically every missionary candi- 
date, as well as thousands of men and women students who 
are not Volunteers. 

Almost contemporaneously with the initiation of this 
study class movement, a man was set apart for some 
months to visit American theological seminaries to in- 
vestigate the situation. He found that in no regular 
seminary was any adequate preparation given for mis- 
sionary service. This was the beginning of an agitation 
which, as much as anything else almost, has been the orig- 
inal impulse toward the special courses and full-time 
professorships now found in a number of seminaries. 
In a variety of other ways this Movement has furthered 



Peeparation for Missionary Work 39 

the cause of preparation, thus supplementing these two 
important programs of education. 

3. Progress Since the EdinhurgTi Conference. The 
Edinburgh World Missionary Conference of 1910 ap- 
pointed a commission to make a special study of mission- 
ary training. Its report introduced the modern era of 
scientific preparation for missionary service. It led al- 
most immediately to the formation in Great Britain of 
a Board of Missionary Studies, and in 1911 the North 
American Board of Missionary Preparation came into 
existence. Thus far it has been in the lead in such mat- 
ters; and as it is the creation of the missionary societies 
of the United States and Canada, under the supervision 
of the Edinburgh Conference Continuation Committee, 
its action is very influential in the program of instruc- 
tion and training of American candidates. 

Students contemplating entering missionary service, 
should correspond with Mr. Robert P. Wilder, General 
Secretary of the Student Volunteer Movement, 25 Madi- 
son Ave., l^ew York, who will give advice concerning 
undergraduate preparation. Those who desire more defi- 
nite information concerning the training required for 
specific fields and branches of missionary work are ad- 
vised to correspond with Director Frank K. Sanders, 
Ph.D., at the above address. As secretary of the Board 
of Missionary Preparation, he can give an impartial view 
of various fields and their requirements and of institu- 
tions for preparation. A few general statements concern- 
ing this subject are given here, though the reader espe- 
cially interested should correspond with the gentlemen 
whose names and address have been given. It is also 
well for those in need of denominational advice, to write 
to the secretaries of their foreign mission board. 

4. What Can Be Done in College. It is desirable for 
both men and women candidates to have a broad collegiate 
education, as the foundation and starting point for later 
studies. In view of the varied demands made upon mis- 



A 



4:0 The Fobeigx Missionary's Caixixg 

sionaries. specialization at this stage is not desirable. If 
possible, one or more modem languages should be studied 
fully. If there is an opportunity to speak them in or 
outside the class, it will be even more helpful in the 
later acquisition of one's adopted tongue. Sociology, his- 
toiy — especially that of developing European and Ameri- 
can states and institutions, the theory and practice of 
education, voice culture, vocal music, declamation, de- 
bate and general courses in the Bible are commonly taught 
in colleges and have a direct value for the prop(^ed call- 
ing. Training in leadership is aided through the work 
done on committees of the Student Christian Associations 
and in young people's societies in churches. Keligious 
teaching and preaching may be prepared for through the 
work of Stmday Schools and missions. Cosmopolitan 
Clubs and classes for foreigners, sometimes conducted by 
the Christian, Association, afford fine opportunities for 
extra-curriculum preparation for work among strange 
races, and they also enable one to form friendships that 
are helpful later. Participation in the program of evan- 
gelistic bands, sent out into country towns during vaca- 
tions by some colleges, is especially helpful for prospec- 
tive missionaries. 

5. Professior f Pre pa ratio?!. Professional preparation 
will vary according to the appointment made by one's 
foreign board, and that is not commonly known until 
the last year of professional study. The four years* med- 
ical course does not need to be varied for medical mis- 
sionaries, as medical needs abroad are much the same 
as here. The variation comes after graduation, when 
every candidate for medical missions should take a vear 
or more of hospital practice, working both on the medical 
and surgical side, if possible. In specialization, eye and 
ear diseases should most commonly be studied. A short 
time in a maternity hospital, or some obstetrical practice 
or observation will prove very valuable also. 



Preparation for Missionary Work 41 

For the majority of men who are evangelistic workers, 
the full seminary course is desirable as a general rule. 
Courses in the Bible as a whole, as well as in its exegesis, 
and Biblical Theology are of fundamental importance. 
In studying Church History, its early heresies and the 
development of doctrine are sidelights of value where the 
infant Church is being built up in an environment of 
beliefs which tend in the same directions as they did in 
the early centuries. The history of the Church since 
the Reformation, and especially its extension in the last 
century as a supplement to its expansion in the ante- 
!N^icene period, is of greater practical value than the rec- 
ords of the intervening thirteen hundred years. Apolo- 
getics and the history of modern ethical theories, together 
with a mastery of evolution from Darwin to the present 
day, are indispensable for workers among the educated 
classes in Latin America, Japan, India and China. Poli- 
ties of different denominations should be understood in 
outline at least as a help in union movements abroad. 
There is a difference of opinion as to the desirability of 
devoting time to Hebrew in seminaries where it is not 
required. To be of value enough to make its acquisition 
outweigh the benefits of the same number of hours that 
might have been spent on other studies, it needs to be 
thoroughly mastered; the ordinary study of Hebrew is 
time less valuably used than it might otherwise be. 

Sermon work is more helpfully done in churches than 
in the homiletic classroom, since missionary sermonizing 
is very different from that called for in America. Pulpit 
practice is an aid in self-control; and if done without 
notes after careful preparation, the benefits will be greater 
than if sermons are written — an almost unheard of 
method of preaching in mission lands, except to foreigners 
there. The objections against Christianity heard from 
audiences at church forums and similar gatherings and 
the necessity for answering them are foretastes of ex- 



42 The Foeeigx !Missioxaey's Calling 

periences among Brahmins and Moslems. Passing through 
them before one is using a strange tongue is of decided 
advantage. 

If the seminary is located in a large city where social 
work can be done as part of the program for earning a 
scholarship, it is a fine preparation for similar undertak- 
ings abroad. The inspection of settlements, the manage- 
ment of various labor and other leagues and the work of 
rescue missions and for released convicts are other pre- 
paratives for possible usefulness on the field. 

6. Specialized WorTc. ISTorth American missionaries 
are specializing more than those of other sending coun- 
tries. Where a candidate is needed to fill a definite posi- 
tion of this sort, he should first get his board's advice 
and then after consulting with the Director of the Board 
of Missionary Preparation, choose his institution and 
make his preparation there. Such special study can ordi- 
narily be done far more satisfactorily at a university 
center than at a college or isolated seminary. Such spe- 
cialization, however, is more commonly undertaken at a 
furlough period than before going out for the first time, 
since experiment only can determine who is best fitted 
for a given form of service. 

Medical missionaries home on furlough often do special 
work, and the place is determined by the character of 
their deficiency. Some of the mission boards are also 
asking their outgoing medical candidates to study for a 
period in an approved school of tropical medicine, the ex- 
pense being borne commonly by the board itself, if done 
at a European institution. 

A miscellaneous list of items entering into the prepara- 
tion of candidates prior to sailing is of interest for such 
readers only and is not called for here. Suffice it to say 
that any person sufficiently interested to do so, may learn 
from the foreign board of his denomination all such de- 
tails through its manual for candidates and other appro- 
priate literature. 



Imperative Urgency of the Calling 43 

VIII. Imperative Urgency of the Calling 

The missionary's calling is more imperative than most 
others in certain particulars. For those reasons, it is one 
that has a prior claim to be considered by the conscientious 
Christian. 

1. The Vast Numbers Involved. God so loved the 
world that he sent to it His only begotten Son. Whether 
Jesus actually uttered the words found in the closing 
section of St. Mark's Gospel or not/ ^^Go ye into all the 
world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation/' He 
was so truly the Son of Man that it is His own favorite 
designation of Himself. As such, that statement and 
Matthew 28 : 19-20 are wholly in accord with His spirit 
and constitute an imperative "Go ye," which to the con- 
quering Duke of Wellington was the final word for the 
Christian. Look at a religious map of the world after 
the expiration of nineteen Christian centuries. Very 
little of it is marked with the distinctive color of Chris- 
tianity. All of Asia and virtually all of Africa are garbed 
in the somber colors of other religions inadequate for 
man's need, and so are large sections of Latin America. 
Include all other communions of the Christian Church 
with Protestantism, and fully a billion — nearly ten times 
the number of inhabitants in the United States — remain 
outside the Christian fold. The challenge of a thousand 
millions in whose behoof Christ died and to whose relief 
His followers were sent must be met. How small the 
number in Christian lands who have never had an oppor- 
tunity to know of Him ! How innumerable the hosts of 
those arrayed under other banners in non-Christian coun- 
tries ! The Submerged Billion constitutes a numerical 
imperative of the most solemn significance. 

2. Christian Preemption of Formative Periods. Al- 
most equally urgent is the fact that the vast majority of 
this Billion belong to peoples now in the formative period 

1 See marginal note to Mark 16: 9 in the Revised New Testament. 



44 The Eoreign Missionary's Calling 

of their modern development. Out of the post-bellum 
melting-pot thej run into the new molds of Occidental 
civilization. Their future depends greatly upon the pres- 
ent decade, whether it is to be evil, good, better, or best; 
and God intended the best for His children of every 
color and clime. If Christians do nothing and leave the 
issue to commerce and trade and industrial development, 
the best has been left out of the possible molds; the evil 
will probably shape most of the new national life, and 
their consequent best will only be better or good. 

In 1854 Japan was forced to open her sea-gates to 
Christian nations. Happily Protestant Missions embraced 
the golden opportunity, and after a little more than half 
a century the Empire has sloughed off feudalism and 
ranks fairly well with the nations of the West. The 
greatest authority on Christian Missions of any time was 
the late Gustav Warneck, Professor at Halle. During his 
last years much of his thought was given to the promo- 
tion of missions in Japan and for the reason stated. It 
was a time that would never be duplicated; Christian 
influences exerted at this critical period would not only 
mean everything to the nation itself, but for much of 
Asia as well. It is obvious to add that the critical situa- 
tion in the Far East at the present time makes the pos- 
session of Christian principles there even more important. 

Gigantic, age-old yet virile China stands to-day at a 
similar parting of the ways. Mission boards partly ' re- 
alize this and are concentrating attention upon that field ; 
yet how few the missionaries in contrast with its three 
or four hundred millions ! Changes in some respects 
more momentous and more rapid are taking place there 
than in any other part of the globe. A form of govern- 
ment that has gloried in reproducing from age to age 
the marks of idealism found in the reigns of Kings Wen 
and Wu, eleven centuries before Christ, suddenly dons 
the liberty cap and becomes a Republic, an early Vice 



Imperative Urgency of the Calling 45 

President of its Senate a Christian Chinese graduated 
from an American university, and many officials through- 
out the Eepublic either Christians or educated in mis- 
sionary schools. This is another proof that Christian 
molds are unspeakably desirable in the period of fusion. 
India at the present moment is in a most critical state, 
one that calls for a Christian solvent of her many political, 
social and industrial difficulties. And so of less con- 
spicuous examples of recently transformed peoples, one 
may say that their future depends upon the present and 
coming decades. Our time is literally "an age on ages 
telling," an imperative of the seething melting-pot and 
the late War. It goes without saying, therefore, that 
strategy demands the Christian preemption of every sort 
of moral and religious opportunity and to an almost equal 
extent of the intellectual one also. 

3. Inexorable Time. Inexorable Time is more imperi- 
ous in its demands upon the Christian than other impera- 
tives. A generation is made up of clock ticks, each of 
which sounds the knell of shrinking, hopeless souls. The 
Chinese ideogram for the world of men and for a genera- 
tion is millenniums old and in its original form was 
made up of three conjoined cords each bearing a knot 
and each knot standing for ten years. In three tens of 
brief years, according to their conception, a new world 
of men is born, grows to maturity, begets another gen- 
eration, expires, is thrust into the grave, — and so on end- 
lessly. In civilized countries, medical science has length- 
ened man's life by more than a decade; yet for the non- 
Christian world thirty years still spans a generation, after 
which a new one arises. It will not do for Christians 
to let a half century pass before evangelizing a tribe or 
a nation; for in the interval of fatal delay, that genera- 
tion has passed away and a new one is begetting still a 
third world of hopeless children. "To-day, if ye will 
hear his voice, harden not your hearts," — the voice of One 



46 The Foeeigx Missioxaey's Calling 

who yearns to see the fruit of His soul-travail and be sat- 
isfied. This cannot he, except as His followers of this 

generation help to save this generation. 

4. Unsatisfied Soul-hunger. A pathetic thing concern- 
ing these passing worlds of Christless races and nations 
is their numb unconcern as to life here and hereafter — 
to get the real good out of it now and to make it a stepping- 
stone to a better future. Even more heart-moving is it 
to note the elect few whose souls hunger and whose lame 
hands of faith have wearied through a downward or for- 
ward groping after God instead of with an upward stretch. 
'*0h, that I knew where I might find Him!" And the 
response is like Eabindranath Tagore's "King of the Dark 
Chamber/' transcendently mystic and for common folk 
hopelessly vague. How can children of the light and 
of the day, who have themselves laid hold on life, fail 
to see the imperativeness of tenderly taking into their 
own strong ones these lame hands and of leading such 
seekers after God to His presence where there is spiritual 
light and fullness of joy? 

But it may be argued that this soul-hunger may be sat- 
isfied by the rehabilitation of non-Christian faiths, or 
by a fuller appropriation of the best in those creeds. 
That done, why should we be concerned for them ? At 
the Xashville Student Volunteer Convention of 1906, 
Dr. Eobert Speer, Senior Secretary of the Presbyterian 
Board, Xorth, had this to say in that connection : 

^We stand in the midst of a great world of wrecked 
religions. Heresy after heresy has shot schism upon 
schism through what we used to look upon as the solid 
mass of ^lohammedanism ; and all the other non-Christian 
religions are attempting in greater or less degree to trans- 
form themselves beneath our eyes. They are confessing, 
every one of them, their inadequacy to meet the needs of 
men. 

^'And, last of all, I might say what would have saved 
us all this discussion, if said at the beginning. For us 



Impeeative Urgency of the Calling 47 

Calvary closes this question. All the non-Christian re- 
ligions, except Mohammedanism, which in actual conse- 
quence rejects and supersedes Christ and therefore con- 
demns itself — all the non-Christian religions except Mo- 
hammedanism were here when Jesus Christ came. If the 
missionary enterprise is a mistake, it is not our mistake; 
it is the mistake of God. If the laying down of life in 
the attempt to evangelize the world is an illegitimate 
waste, let the reproach of it rest on that one priceless 
Life that was, therefore, laid down needlessly for the 
world. JSTineteen hundred years ago, to the best of all 
the non-Christian religions, — the religion between which 
and all the other non-Christian religions a gulf is fixed, — 
Judaism, Jesus Christ came; and that, the best of all 
religions. He declared to be outworn and inadequate. The 
time had at last come, He taught, to supplant it with the 
full and perfect truth that was in Him. It will be enough 
for us quietly, as men and women who love Jesus Christ 
and to whom He is in no sham and unreal way Master 
and Lord, — it will be enough for us to recall His own 
great words: ^I am the good shepherd.' ^All that came 
before me are thieves and robbers.' ^I am the light of the 
world.' ^I am the way and the truth and the life: no 
man cometh to the Father but by me.' ^E'o one knoweth 
the Son, save the Father; neither doth any know the 
Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will- 
eth to reveal Him.' 

"We bow our heads beneath the cross on which our 
Saviour hung, and for us no other word needs to be 
spoken regarding the absoluteness of His faith and the 
inadequacy of the half -teachers who had gone before Him, 
or who were to come after Him. !N"o word needs to be 
spoken to us beyond His word, *I came to save the world,' 
and the great word of the man who had loved Him dearly, 
whose life had been changed from weakness into strength 
by His power and who was to die in His service: ^And 
in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any 



48 The Foreign Missionaey's Calling 

other name under heaven, that is given among men, 
whereby we must be saved.' As the owners and bearers 
of that name, how can we withhold from the hearts of 
men the sufficient message of their Father's life, their 
Father's love, made known alone in our only Lord and 
Saviour, Jesus Christ ?" 

5. God's Delayed Purpose. Urgency is present in the 
realization of our relation to the delayed purpose of God. 
Evidences of evolution are manifest on every hand; yet 
it is not the outworking of an iron law, as inexorable as 
that of the Medes and Persians which changes not. God's 
hand is in human history; its far off events are fore- 
written in His unfulfilled purposes. Armageddon may 
witness the ravenings for blood of Gog and Magog and 
the fulfillment of Jesus' dictum, "They that take the 
sword shall perish with the sword." But the Purpose 
still stands unchanged. Jesus shall reign; the Prince of 
Peace will surely bring — is bringing out of seas of fra- 
ternal blood — to its dawning that glad day when spears 
shall become pruning-hooks, and swords plowshares, when 
international righteousness shall dominate the races of 
men and Christian brotherhood bind the round world into 
a universal fellowship. 

Read Professor Harnack's volumes on "The Expansion 
of Christianity During the First Three Centuries." Note 
how the gospel ran through the Roman Empire until it 
was crowned on the Imperial Throne. See how its spirit- 
ual fires afterward dimmed and how its super-men became 
as common flesh. Then in later centuries came very 
gradually the twilight of formal religion. Christians be- 
ing unobedient to the divine Purpose, and the dark mid- 
night of the dread millennial year following most natu- 
rally. As the clock of history struck 1200, 1300, 1400, 
the thick darkness of Europe yielded; and when 1500 
sounded out upon the nations, the day of the world's 
redemption seemed to have dawned. Christ was redis- 
covered; the way into the Holy of Holies was disclosed 



Imperative Urgency of the Calling 49 

through its rent veil; once more the just lived by faith; 
Christian dynamics displaced dead scholasticism and a 
lifeless ritual; the Purpose was being accomplished. Yet 
one item was practically neglected in the Protestant pro- 
gram, not so much so in that of the Romanists. Luther 
and his fellow reformers failed to follow in the footsteps 
of the apostles who went everywhere preaching the Word, 
even though Palestine was not yet obedient to the new 
Paith. The reformers clung to their Palestine and, busied 
with their own extension and strengthening, thought little 
of the uttermost parts of the earth. 

But the Purpose was not wholly forgotten by Chris- 
tians. The boy l^icolaus Ludwig and his ''Mustard Seed" 
society became Count Zinzendorf and the wonderful Mo- 
ravian Mission, doing better than the earlier government 
Missions to India of Ziegenbalg, Pliitschau and their suc- 
cessors. Carey, ''the consecrated cobbler," led the way 
for the Baptists, they for the Congregationalists, they in 
turn for the Anglicans, and Britain was obedient to the 
divine Purpose. Pive students at Williams College were 
overtaken by a divinely purposed thunderstorm; and in 
the lee of a sheltering haystack, and after prayer and 
consultation, with the watchword of faith leading them 
on, "We can do it, if we will," they willed to set the 
flame in the hearts of American Christians. The Purpose 
of God had begun to possess the nation which was in 
many respects best endowed for the world-wide task, 
though in other particulars less so than Great Britain and 
her strong colonies, — the dependencies of to-day, — Canada 
chief among them. 

The Purpose is still far from fulfillment. Christian 
nations have money in abundance and men and women 
to spare. If alleged lack of them was the cry in July, 
1914, it must be stilled henceforth and forever. Think 
of the billions of money, of the millions of lives that 
have been freely offered up, of even more millions who 
have endured deaths daily in the trenches where ruthless 



50 The Foreign Missionary's Calling 

men and bursting steel and excruciating gases rivaled each 
other in winning their toll of death! The mission cause 
calls for less than fifty thousand fresh recruits to re- 
enforce those now on the far-flung battle line of the Prince 
of Peace. The expenditure of a single day of European 
war treasuries would pay all their budgets. The profit 
from war purchases in North America for a few months 
would supply all salaries and the expenses of carrying on 
schools, hospitals, printing establishments and Christian 
churches on foreign fields. European nations with one 
accord were doing it — slaying one another by the million 
— because they so willed to do; the Christian Church 
can do its less demanding task easily, — saving the waiting 
millions, — if it wills. The delayed Purpose of God can 
only be accomplished, if the Church wills, if its members 
will, if you so will, Christian reader. 

To fulfill that divine Purpose demands sacrifice. Yet 
it stands written of the Son of Man and Son of God, 
"He saved others ; himself he cannot save ;" and also, 
"It is enough for the servant that he be as his master.'' 
Perhaps your will and your lack of love stand athwart of 
the Purpose of God for His needy world, thus delaying 
its accomplishment. That oft-quoted sentence of the bril- 
liant teacher of Arabic in Cambridge University, occur- 
ring in an address delivered before students of Edinburgh 
and Glasgow, is the Hon. Ion Keith-Falconer's voice, still 
living these many years after he fell on sleep in Sheikh 
Othman in arid Arabia: 

"While vast continents are shrouded in darkness and 
hundreds of millions suffer under the horrors of heathen- 
ism and Islam, the burden of proof rests on you to show 
that the circumstances in which God has placed you were 
meant by God to keep you out of the foreign field." In 
some measure, the divine Purpose depends upon your 
decision. 



Ill 



THE YOUNG MEN'S CHEISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

By 
JuDsoN Jackson McKim 



CHRISTIAN WORK 
AS A VOCATION 

THE Y0U:N^G MEN'S CHKISTIAIT ASSOCIATION" 

Introduction 

THE Young Men's Christian Association was organ- 
ized in London, England, by a group of twelve 
young men who were away from home. None of 
them had either prestige or money. They did have an 
idea which was larger than they realized, for in seventy- 
six years the Young Men's Christian Association had 
organizations in fifty countries, owned in North America 
approximately $150,000,000 worth of property, had 5,809 
employed officers, and never gave such indications of 
youth and vitality as at the present time. Those who know 
it best, predict that its days of greatest growth are yet to 
come. In the early part of 1920 the Personnel Bureau of 
the International Committee issued a statement in which 
they computed that there would be needed 1,500 additional 
Secretaries each year during the next ten years. To the 
young man who is interested in investigating the Asso- 
ciation calling as a Life Work, the question of entering 
it may resolve itself into four phases namely, — Is the 
service the Association performs needed in the process of 
extending the Kingdom of God? Does this work appeal 
to me ? Am I fitted for the task of leadership in this 
field of endeavor? If so, how shall I enter the work? 
Let us consider whether the Association is rendering im- 
portant service in extending the Kingdom of God. 

3 



jt The YorxG Mex's Chkistiax Associatio:^" 

What Is It ? 

Supplements the Work of the Church. The Association 
reaches many men and boys who are not in close touch 
with the organized church. This it does^ through its sys- 
tem of Committees by which it challenges men and boys 
with a great variety of worth while tasks. In the larger 
cities its great privilege-serving buildings are said to house 
more types of activity than any other building thus far 
developed by modern civilization. They attract young 
men by thousands and occupy their time with construc- 
tive character building activities. 

Just as the lodge attracts and holds the interest of 
large numbers of men, so the Association, working among 
men and boys, also supplements the work of the Church 
with its specialized appeals. The Association building 
is planned to keep men and boys busy with useful char- 
acter building tasks seven days each week. To the man 
and boy in touch with the Church, but for some cause not 
actually related to it or perchance indifferent or rebellious 
to its program, the Association may thus stand as a con- 
server and safeguard. 

Interdenominational Service. The Interdenominational 
character of the Association enables it to perform many 
tasks which the individual church or denomination cannot 
well perform. Tasks which involve the city, state or na- 
tion as a whole, and are not primarily related to any 
individual chtirch or denomination, may oftentimes be 
for that very reason intensified in their importance. One 
of the most striking examples here is that found in the 
Student ^lovement of the Association. The Student Vol- 
unteer ]\Iovement in which the Young Women's Christian 
Association now cooperates, is but one of the products of 
this phase of Association work, and has sent in the first 
thirty-three years of its history 8.140 of the best students 
from our American colleges, into Mission lands. The im- 
portance of this accomplishment few can appreciate. That 



What Is It? 5 

no single churcli or denomination could alone perform 
the service can be readily understood. 

In a similar manner we might deal with the Industrial 
Department and the comprehensive program it provides, 
dealing as it does with men and boys in industry, a field 
in which both the workers and the Church are to-day in 
great need of each other. The Rural Work with its 
steady growth in the country districts where the rural 
church confronts serious problems, the Transportation 
Department with some 300 centers of organized Associa- 
tion endeavor among Transportation men, the Boys' Work 
with its program for helping churches to hold ^Hhe teen 
age boy," providing a program for organizing Hi-Y Clubs 
among High School boys and furnishing other forms of 
interesting endeavor. In some cases the scientifically 
arranged Christian Citizenship Training Program may 
be helpful to the Church in its effort to regulate its life 
so as to be of service to men and boys thus giving them 
the opportunity in turn to be of service. There is the 
Educational Program, with Day, Evening, and Corre- 
spondence Courses, which seems destined to make the 
Association one of the great Educational Institutions of 
the country and in which 140,707 students are already 
enrolled, a number largely in excess of the total number 
of students in all our denominational colleges. The Phys- 
ical Department (so long and favorably known) has given 
the Association a unique place of leadership in the battle 
for clean sport and recreation. These examples point to 
the need and opportunity for interdenominational service. 

Moreover, the elastic type of organization possessed 
by the Association makes it possible for this Agency to 
act quickly and efficiently when great local or S^ational 
emergencies arise. A familiar example of this was shown 
during the recent World War when the Association was 
generally on the ground as soon as the troops, and be- 
cause of its organization, was often able to continue its 
service after other Agencies felt it was wise to withdraw. 



6 The Youxg Mex's Christian Associatioit 

Running through and inspiring all phases of this work 
stands out the central dominating objective of the Asso- 
ciation which may well be stated in the terms of the so- 
called Paris Basis adopted at the World's Convention at 
Paris, in 1855. This statement of purpose reads as fol- 
lows: 

The Young Men's Christian Association seeks to unite those 
young men, who, regarding Jesus Christ as their God and 
Saviour according to the Holy Scriptures, desire to be His 
Disciples in their doctrine and in their life and to associate 
their efforts for the extension of the Kingdom among young 
men. 

To the steadfast loyalty to this objective, many men 
and boys testify by the quiet devotion of a Christian life. 
Because of its Interdenominational character and wide- 
ness of its program, where often the only requirement for 
leadership is the character basis, the Association offers to 
men and boys of many and all faiths, who are earnest 
and sincere, an opportunity for acquaintance and fellow- 
ship in the performance of common tasks. Here is some 
young man standing almost alone in the work of some 
small church. What a temptation there is for him to 
follow Elijah's example and hunt a juniper tree! But 
here comes along the Association with some program or 
function, absorbing this boy into the program, gives him 
an opportunity to rub shoulders with other boys and 
young men active in the work of other churches, and 
sends him back with a new vision and new determination. 

Economy of Plan. We have already called attention 
to the fact that the Association presents b. varied program 
and its buildings house many kinds of activities. This 
very fact makes for expense, for, not only is the equip- 
ment in itself expensive, but the more equipment, the 
more must be invested in personality to direct the use 
of the equipment. A huilding is useful only when hous- 



What Is It? T 

tng and furnishing a working base for personality. With- 
out the personality, the building frequently becomes a 
liability in the character building processes of the com- 
munity. Wise economy in directing religious resources 
calls, then, for concentration by the erecting and maintain- 
ing of these Christian Service Stations. Because of the 
very nature of its work the program of the Young Men's 
Christian Association calls for the largest outlay of cap- 
ital of any of the activities of the Christian Church. To 
have each church attempt for itself to duplicate the en- 
tire program and equipment of the Association, would 
make for financial failure before the plan was well started, 
to attempt less than the full program leaves a fraction of 
the field uncovered. 

Growth, The work and influence of the Young Men's 
Christian Association is rapidly extending. Society gen- 
erally honors with prosperity those organizations that 
serve. This would seem to point to a place of usefulness 
for this voluntary lay organization and its program as a 
necessary supplement to the Church. As Mr. W. J. Parker, 
of Chicago, points out, "After seventy-five years of service 
the Association unites worthy aims, skilled leadership, 
tested management and the confidence of the public." 
Why should not such an organization be useful in ex- 
tending the Kingdom of God? It can be useful if given 
Christian leadership by strong and stalwart men. 

Experimental Station. Moreover, because of its Inter- 
denominational character, the Association has become a 
sort of general experimental station for Christian methods. 
A Yale Professor of Engineering recently stated in public 
that "The International Committee headquarters houses 
more experts than can be found under any other roof 
in America." Be that as it may, this staff of keen 
students and skilled promoters are constantly on the search 
for ideas and programs that seem to have merit. These 
are given a careful testing in the school of experience. 
Ideas and programs that stand the testing are then re- 



8 The Young Men's Christian Association 

fined and given to the religious world for further use 
and development. Thus it was that the Association 
brought the Boj Scout movement to America and fostered 
it until it could stand alone. Similar examples are those 
of I^ight School and Playground movements and many 
other features of so-called welfare work where the Rail- 
road and Industrial Departments have been such recog- 
nized pioneers, or the creditable efforts made by the 
Religious Work Department and Association Press in 
placing at the disposal of all, valuable Bible Study Courses 
and programs of activity adapted to the special problems 
of men and boys. 

How Does It Woek? 

Types of Men Needed. Let us now note the great 
variety in the lines of work opened up to the Association 
employed officer. 

"The Association secretaryship offers opportunity for 
men of many sorts of ability and training. This is one 
of the glories of this new profession. In general, these 
opportunities might be divided into two classes : there is 
the opportunity to organize activities; and the opportunity 
to develop religious life — one calls for Executives; the 
other calls for Prophets. Both types of men are needed 
in the Association movement. At the present time we 
are long on the first class and short on the second. The 
very spirit of American life tends to develop the Execu- 
tive. Pew will deny that the trend of the Association 
movement in recent years has been to magnify the execu- 
tive features of the work. Obviously, we need more men 
of the Prophet class. In all departments of the work 
the leadership most needed is that which will bring us out 
into new realms of vitality and power. The Executive 
brings together many small streams into one great canal ; 
the Prophet discovers fountains of living water in the 
desert places." 



How Does It Work? 9 

"Men must be Seers before they are Prophets. The 
need of the hour is for secretaries who have paid the price 
in long periods of meditation, sustained efforts of inves- 
tigation, research, reading, and study, — of learning the 
costly habits of intercession, — in order to bring human 
personalities one by one in touch with the Living Christ.'' ^ 

A study made of the 1,035 new men entering Y.M. C. A. 
work in the year 1920 indicated that these recruits came 
from the following sources: 49% from business; 26% 
from school or college; 10% from teaching professions; 
4% from the Ministry; 2% from other religious work 
and 9% miscellaneous. 

Some sixty kinds of Association officers are at present 
listed in the official Secretarial Register. The Secretary 
may be with the International Committee or with some 
of the various State or Provincial Committees. Should 
he be with the International Group he has many depart- 
ments to choose from in either the Home Field or Foreign 
Work Department. In State Work his choice is more 
limited, but, even here, we find some seven or eight dif- 
ferent kinds of State Secretaries. In the local field, he 
may either be a General Secretary in charge, or he may 
find specialized duties suited to his liking and capacity. 
The most frequently found departments include — Busi- 
ness, Boys' Work, Educational Work, Religious Work, 
Industrial Work, Physical Work, Social Work, and Em- 
ployment and Vocational Guidance Work. In the larger 
Associations not only all other Departments are found, 
but there may be several sub-divisions. In Boys' Work, 
for instance, we may find a City Boys' Work Secretary 
having general supervision of the Association Boys' Work 
of the city and representing the Association in the gen- 
eral promotion of Boys' Work. He may be assisted by 
a Boys' Division Secretary charged with the conduct of 
the building activities, a High School Secretary, an Em- 

1 Report of Commission on Personnel. 



10 The Youin^g Men's Cheistiai^ Association 

ployed Boys' Secretary and a Boys' Secretary, giving his 
time to boys in the poorer districts of the city. Similar 
sub-divisions might be noted in the other major divisions, 
so that a man with capacity, either large or small, is 
quite apt to find an opportunity to use the talents he 
possesses and that to great advantage. 

But all men are not fitted for this task in spite of 
its great opportunity, and many v^ho are fitted are un- 
willing to pay the price for success. Whatever may be 
said of other tasks, that of the Employed Ofiicer is no 
sinecure. His hours are long, his absence from his family 
frequent, as he must use the leisure time of men to pro- 
mote the Association. Host of his work being exclusively 
among men and boys, opportunities for sharing the tasks 
with the women of his family, as is so effectively done 
by many clergymen, is denied him. He must lose him- 
self in this great task. He must constantly bear in mind 
that his task is one to be performed in the front rank 
where pressure is greatest and the result of mistakes of 
great import. His field is the men and boys of the com- 
munity, be it City, Racial or College Groups among whom 
he is working. ISTow let hard times come, the Association 
suffers first, for its work and its resources come from the 
fragments — after men have first served their Church with 
time and funds. The Church is the agency of first im- 
portance. It serves the family, — social and sentimental 
ties rightly hold men's affections most firmly here. If 
they must give up anywhere they rightly give up all else 
before their investment in the Church and its cause will 
be allowed to suffer. The Association leader must, there- 
fore, recognize the greater hazard existing in the game 
he plays and add great courage and abundant good judg- 
ment to his stock of assets if he is to hope for success. 
Moreover these talents are to be used in the very thick of 
the fight. Xot only is the hardest present task of the 
Church with men and boys, but that problem is most seri- 
ously complicated in our larger cities. While making a 



How Does It Work? 11 

substantial contribution to tbe life of many a smaller city 
and rural community, the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion has shown its largest resourcefulness in the larger 
cities — the very spot where a church supplementing agency 
is most needed. The United States census for 1920 shows 
that but 38% of the church membership of America is 
found in cities of over 25,000 while 70% of the Y.M.C.A. 
membership is found in these same cities. 

Again, the problems confronting the Association Sec- 
retary are constantly changing in number and form. The 
elastic adaptable nature of the Association is useless un- 
less the leadership is wise enough and alert enough to 
quickly sense the changing needs and work accordingly. 
One of America's most successful Association secretaries 
said recently that one must entirely relearn the profes- 
sion every five years if usefulness to the movement and 
the community is to be maintained. Perhaps in no other 
field is the thing being done so expressive of personality 
as in the work of the Young Men's Christian Association. 
A man eventually makes his own place and performs 
through the machinery of the Association the task he feels 
he can best do, of the many services needed by the com- 
munity. Thus one will frequently find men of different 
temperament located in different fields, while having the 
same professional classification, rendering very different 
types of service. Moreover, these same men may them- 
selves be performing next year a very different type of 
work than that which occupies their attention this 
year. 

In general terms the work of a Y.M.C.A. Secretary 
may be described thus : 

He must study the needs of men and boys. 

He must wisely select those within the field of the 
Y.M.C.A. 

He must visualize these needs into service tasks with 
which he can challenge men and boys. 



12 The Youxg Men's Cheistiais' Associatiox 

He must secure the leadership and workers necessary 
to perform these tasks and finance the enterprises. 

He must do all this in the spirit and by the power and 
method of the Master. 

The success of a Secretary of the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association is not marked so much by the work he 
does as by the growth of men and hoys through participa- 
tion in the Association program. The wise and long- 
visioned Secretary seeks to have the general public see, 
not the Secretary, but the President of the Board of 
Directors, the Chairmen and members of the Committee 
force, and the many other men and boys who are per- 
forming service in and through the Association program. 
The Secretarial function is that of coach rather than that 
of captain, hence the less the Association is conscious 
of secretarial leadership and the more it responds to in- 
telligent and competent lay leadership, other things being 
equal, the greater the success of the Secretary.^ 

And yet strange as it may seem, this does not rob the 
Secretary himself of one of the gTeatest opportunities for 
leadership in all the present day work of extending the 
Kingdom of God. The difference is in application of 
leadership and not in quality or quantity.^ 

The Secretarial leadership manifests itself in the sur- 
veying and analyzing of problems and then the interesting 
of strong men and boys in the solving of these problems, 
regardless of whether the Association machinery is always 
used or not. His greatest service is found in helping 
to develop the lay resources in the commtmity. If he is 
successful he is placed in contact with the strongest lay 
men of the community without regard to their denomi- 
national relationships. His plans and his personality must 
inspire the confidence of those who themselves are leaders, 

^ A gi'oup of Secretaries recently indicated these elements of lead- 
ership as primarily necessary for success in the Secretaryship: 
Organization Salesmanship 

Administration Teaching 

Promotion Public Speaking 



How Does It Work? 13 

and he must secure their attention and a dedication of 
their ability to the developing of plans for the solving of 
the problems in which he is interested. If he fails here 
his cause is lost, his usefulness in this field gone. What 
greater opportunities for the exercise of the tactful quali- 
ties of Christian leadership are to be found anyi^^here ! 

In other words, the man who is to succeed as an Asso- 
ciation Secretary must be a Religious Social Engineer, 
with large capacity for adaptability to changing conditions 
and outstanding qualities of leadership. A City Secre- 
tary, however, will probably be found doing some of the 
things specified in the classification at the end of this 
article under the heading, ''What Does a Secretary Do ?'' 
This list was compiled, after much consultation, by Paul 
Super, formerly General Secretary at Honolulu. 

Attached will also be found a sample week's program 
promoted by the 'New Haven's Young Men's Christian 
Association during the season of 1920-21. This program 
was promoted from a very limited equipment by a staff 
of eighteen men. A study of this schedule will indicate 
something of the range of work an Association Secretary 
may perform and the different types of men needed to 
promote a successful "Y" program. Several hundred vol- 
unteer committeemen were of course used and in this lies 
much of the value of the Association's service, that is, the 
challenging of many boys and men with attractive tasks 
which serve the community and develop the committee- 
men. 

The Boys' Work Secretary in Shanghai, China, is said 
to have had 846 different committeemen actually perform- 
ing service in his department during the year ending 
May 1st, 1921. 

Here, then, stands the Association Secretary in the fore 
front of the battle. His contact with the men and boys, 
not definitely related to the organized Church, is large. 
Men and boys who seldom enter the doors of the Church, 
throng the buildings of the Association, taking advantage 



14 The Yotjis^g Men's Cheistian Association 

of the many privileges which these modern structures 
have to offer. His duty then is to interpret to these men 
the Church and the ideals for which the Church stands. 
Where could there be a greater opportunity for the man 
who desires to lose himself in the service of God and his 
fellow-men than in work of the Association ? 

A Real Life Worh. But is the Association Secretary- 
ship a life work? Many have felt that, owing to the 
fact that this work is largely with young men and hoys, a 
man soon becomes incapacitated by advancing years for 
effective service in this particular field. On January 1st, 
1921, the Personnel Bureau issued the following state- 
ment regarding secretaries who have been in service an 
aggregate of twenty-five years or more : 

No. of Men ISTo. of Years 
1 51 

1 50 

2 48 

1 47 

1 46 

2 45 

1 43 

3 41 

1 40 

2 39 

6 38 

6 37 

4 36 

1 35 

6 34 

10 33 

21 32 

17 31 

21 30 

20 29 

23 28 

23 27 

23 26 

21 25 



How Does It Work? 



15 



GENERAL SECRETARIES 
City Associations 



Salaries 


Pop. 
Under 
25,000 


Pop. 
25 000 
50,000 


Pop. 
50,000 
100,000 


Pop. 
100,000 
500,000 


Pop. 
500,000 
and over 


Total 


Under 1200 






1 




1 


2 


1200-1500 


11 




1 




1 


13 


1501-1800 


40 


2 




3 


2 


47 


1801-2000 


32 




1 


2 


1 


36 


2001-3000 


127 


64 


33 


16 


19 


259 


3001-5000 


16 


19 


36 


43 


25 


139 


Over 5000 






1 


8 


9 


18 


Total 


226 


85 


73 


72 


58 


514 



BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL SECRETARIES 
(Include Comptroller and Asst. Treasurer) 



Salaries 


Pop. 
Under 
25,000 


Pop. 
25.000 
50,000 


Pop. 
50,000 
100,000 


Pop. 
100,000 
500,000 


Pop. 
500,000 
and over 


Total 


Under 1200 


4 




2 


2 


2 


10 


1200-1500 


4 


2 


3 


6 




15 


1501-1800 


1 


5 


4 


3 


2 


15 


1801-2000 


2 


1 


5 


1 


4 


13 


2001-3000 


2 


2 


9 


13 


5 


31 


3001-5000 








3 


4 


7 


Over 5000 










1 


1 


Total 


13 


10 


23 


28 


18 


92 



16 The Youxg Mex's Cheistiais' Associatio]!?^ 

social secretaries 

City Associations 



Salaries 


Pop. 
Under 
25,000 


Pop. 
25,000 
50,000 


Pop. 
50,000 
100,000 


Pop. 
100,000 
500,000 


Pop. 
500,000 
and over 


Total 


Under 1200 






1 


1 


1 


3 


1200-1500 


3 


1 


3 


3 


4 


14 


1501-1800 




2 


1 


3 


1 


7 


1801-2000 




1 


1 


2 


3 


7 


2001-3000 






2 


21 


7 


11 


3001-5000 








1 




1 


Over 5000 














Total 


3 


4 


8 


12 


16 


43 



MEMBERSHIP SECRETARIES 

City Associations 



Salaries 


Pop. 
Under 
25,000 


Pop. 
25,000 
50,000 


Pop. 
50,000 
100,000 


Pop. 
100.000 
500,000 


Pop. 
500,000 
and over 


Total 


Under 1200 




2 








2 


1200-1500 


1 


10 


9 


7 


1 


28 


1501-1800 


1 


6 


4 


6 


5 


22 


1801-2000 


2 


3 


4 


5 


3 


17 


2001-3000 


1 


3 


7 


17 


6 


34 


3001-5000 








1 


1 


2 


Over 5000 














Total 


5 


24 


24 


36 


16 


105 



How Does It Work? 



17 



EMPLOYMENT SECRETARIES 
City Associations 



Salaries 


Pop. 
Under 
25,000 


Pop. 
25,000 
50,000 


Pop. 
50,000 
100,000 


Pop. 
100,000 
500,000 


Pop. 

500,000 
and over 


Total 


Under 1200 








1 


1 


2 


1200-1500 






1 






1 


1501-1800 






1 


5 


2 


8 


1801-2000 








1 


1 


2 


2001-3000 






1 


3 


6 


10 


3001-5000 














Over 5000 














Total 






3 


10 


10 


23 



INDUSTRIAL SECRETARIES 
(And Americanization) 



Salaries 


Pop. 
Under 
25,000 


Pop. 

25,000 
50,000 


Pop. 

50,000 
100,000 


Pop. 
100,000 
500,000 


Pop. 

500,000 
and over 


Total 


Under 1200 














1200-1500 




2 


1 






3 


1501-1800 




4 


4 


2 


2 


12 


1801-2000 


1 


1 


1 


2 




5 


2001-3000 


9 


7 


18 


17 


15 


66 


3001-5000 








11 


5 


16 


Over 5000 














Total 


10 


14 


24 


32 


22 


102 



18 The Young Men's Christian Association 



EDUCATIONAL SECRETARIES 
City Associations 



Salaries 


Pop. 
Under 
25,000 


Pop. 
25,000 
50,000 


Pop. 
50,000 
100,000 


Pop. 
100.000 
500,000 


Pop. 
500,000 
and over 


Total 


Under 1200 














1200-1500 






1 


1 




2 


1501-1800 






3 


1 




4 


1801-2000 








3 


1 


4 


2001-3000 




1 


4 


19 


5 


29 


3001-5000 






1 


4 


3 


8 


Over 5000 










1 


1 


Total 




1 


9 


28 


10 


48 



RELIGIOUS WORK SECRETARIES 
City Associations 



Salaries 


Pop. 
Under 
25,000 


Pop. 

25.000 
50,000 


Pop. 
50,000 
100,000 


Pop. 
100,000 
500,000 


Pop. 
500,000 
and over 


Total 


Under 1200 














1200-1500 






1 


1 




2 


1501-1800 






1 


1 


1 


3 


1801-2000 




1 




1 


2 


4 


2001-3000 




2 


3 


11 


7 


23 


3001-5000 






2 


2 


2 


6 


Over 5000 










1 


1 


Total 




8 


7 


16 


13 


39 



How Does It Work ? 



19 



PHYSICAL DIRECTORS 
City Associations 



Salaries 


Pop. 
Under 
25,000 


Pop. 
25,000 
50,000 


Pop. 
50.000 
100,000 


Pop. 
100,000 
500,000 


Pop. 
500,000 
and over 


Total 


Under 1200 


2 


1 






1 


4 


1200-1500 


39 


10 


1 


1 


2 


53 


1501-1800 


43 


18 


10 


11 


1 


83 


1801-2000 


13 


15 


9 


5 


7 


49 


2001-3000 


19 


25 


34 


38 


23 


139 


3001-500U 




1 


1 


2 


6 


10 


Over 5000 














Total 


116 


70 


55 


57 


40 


338 



BOYS' SECRETARY 
City Associations 



Salaries 


Pop. 
Under 
25,000 


Pop. 
25,000 
50,000 


Pop. 
50.000 
100,000 


Pop. 
100,000 
500,000 


Pop. 
500,000 
and over 


Total 


Under 1200 


8 


4 


1 


1 




14 


1200-1500 


20 


13 


12 


3 


2 


50 


1501-1800 


30 


26 


17 


12 


6 


91 


1801-2000 


15 


10 


10 


1 


6 


42 


2001-3000 


5 


9 


19 


32 


17 


82 


3001-5000 








3 


6 


9 


Over 5000 














Total 


78 


62 


59 


52 


37 


288 



20 The Young Men's Christian Association 

Salaries. While the salaries paid to Association sec- 
retaries are not as large as those paid for positions of 
similar responsibility in business, they do compare favor- 
ably with those received by men in other Christian call- 
ings. 

The Commission on Personnel presented at the Lake 
Geneva Conference the following tables relative to the 
salary being paid 1,592 employed officers who voluntarily 
furnished information regarding their salaries: 

County Secretaries 

1919 1920 1921 

Under $1000 2 

1001-1200 2 1 1 

1201-1500 13 1 1 

1501-1800 30 5 5 

1801-2000 12 5 4 

2001-2500 12 15 16 

2501-3000 5 7 

Above 3000 1 2 

Totals 71 33 36 

Average salary $1793 $2265 $2377 

State Secretaries 

1919 1920 1921 

$1001-1200 4 

1201-1500 8 1 1 

1501-1800 26 4 3 

1801-2000 9 1 1 

2001-2500 39 9 8 

2501-3000 5 35 29 

3001-4000 3 13 22 

Above 4000 7 8 

Totals 94 70 72 

Average salary $2085 $3018 $3209 



Am I Qualified? 21 

Retirement Fund. Plans have been perfected also for 
the establishing of a Retirement Fund which should be 
in operation in the near future. Under this plan a Sec- 
retary may retire at the age of sixty when he will be en- 
titled to a pension equal in amount to 1%% of his average 
salary for the last ten years of service, multiplied by the 
total number of years of service. Towards the mainten- 
ance of this fund, annual assessments are paid by the 
benefitting secretaries and by the Associations which they 
serve. Details of the plan can be secured from the Per- 
sonnel Bureau in ISTew York upon application. 

Am I Qualified ? 

A Man of God Required. But what are the character- 
istics which must mark the candidate for this great task ? 
To begin with he must be a man of God. A humble atti- 
tude of mind, a Christ-like spirit of life, are the funda- 
mental requisites of the profession. The Association em- 
ployed officer must recognize that he stands as the finished 
product of the organization he represents. The com- 
munity perhaps unfairly, but nevertheless unceasingly, 
will be constantly asking: "Do we want more men like 
the 'Y' Secretary in our community ?" If the answer 
is in the affirmative, success becomes possible; if in the 
negative, next to impossible. It is not to make men and 
boys smart or clever, or strong or thrifty alone, that the 
Young Men's Christian Association primarily exists. It 
exists to help men and boys to pattern their lives after 
that of Jesus Christ. Here company is parted with those 
who believe in social regeneration without the Gospel mes- 
sage. The Young Men's Christian Association holds to 
no such emasculated gospel. It is dedicated fundamen- 
tally to a belief in the power of Jesus Christ to save a 
man from sin, and to a daily expanding life of consecrated 
usefulness. Unless such has been the personal experience 
of the man thinking of entering the Association service it 



22 The Young Men's Christian Association 

were better that he should either knock at other doors for 
admission, or else heed the larger, higher call to the serv- 
ice and companionship of the Man of Galilee. To follow 
any other course will bring disappointment to the indi- 
vidual and disaster to the Association served. It is not 
the pulling off of stunts, or the promoting of programs, 
that makes the Young Men's Christian Association Sec- 
cretary a success. It is his ability to use contacts in 
strengthening character and helping men and boys to a 
better understanding of the ^^Will of God in a Man's Life 
Work." The challenge, then, is one of spiritual repro- 
duction, and this means the willingness to develop at great 
sacrifice, if need be, a growing vital permeating spiritual 
life. Without this, as a possession or a treasure diligently 
sought after, no attempt should be made to open doors 
into the work of this Christian brotherhood. 

The Evolution of the General Secretary. But given 
this dominating overflowing spirit of the Master, are there 
no other characteristics by which a man can test himself ? 
In the early days there seemed to be none. Given an 
evangelistic fervor, and success seemed to be assured and 
often did come. In those days when the Association was 
finding itself, the ability to conduct Bible classes and 
religious meetings was the largest asset. But the Asso- 
ciation has shown great adaptability, and as society has 
grown more complex, so the Association program has 
grown in range and complexity. The Stone Business Ad- 
ministration Report notes, for instance, the evolution of 
the General Secretary in four distinct stages: "First, — 
the Evangelistic — was he a soul winner? — ^types: Moody, 
Yatman, Sayles. Second — the day of personal friendship 
— Could he make young men feel at home? — types: 
McCoy, C. B. Willis. Third— Teaching— Could he teach 
the Bible ? — types : Budge, Sinclair, See. Fourth — Exec- 
utive — types: Messer, Diack, Bishop." 

Leivis on Leadership. What, then, are the personal 
elements which now should mark the prospective candi- 



Am I Qualified? 23 

date ? These may be variously stated. Let us look to 
two sources : First, to the business world ; for as far 
as these executive characteristics are concerned the differ- 
ence in requirements is not great. E. St. Elmo Lewis 
states the essential characteristics of the Executive as fol- 
lows : 

"In selecting and developing leaders an appreciation 
of the factors or characteristics essential to efficient, suc- 
cessful leadership should be clearly formulated and care- 
fully borne in mind. The essential characteristics of the 
successful executive may be said to fall under the follow- 
ing headings: 

1. Character, integrity, resourcefulness, initiative, re- 
sponsibility. 

2. Imagination — 'No man is a true leader who cannot 
project himself into the future. He must have ideas and 
ideals in order to lead. 

3. Judgment — A man must have perspective to see how 
many of his ideals are workable. He must have a scien- 
tific attitude — sound common sense. 

4. Courage — Many men with good imagination and 
lofty ideals fail because they lack true courage. They 
are timid or they try to please everybody. Hence they 
do not go forward as leaders. 

5. Efficiency — This comprehends the habits of hard 
work, thoroughness, and constant accuracy. True effi- 
ciency comes from native talents for a particular line of 
work, plus special training, plus experience, plus devotion 
to the task, plus generosity in work, plus conscience. 

6. Understanding of Men — This is more than mere 
knowledge of men. This is the most crucial test of gen- 
uine executive ability. Executives must not only know 
human nature, have a knowledge of men, but literally un- 
derstand them, be able to sympathize with them, put them- 
selves in the place of those under them, and exercise a 
'''pulV from the bottom upward, and not a "drive' or 
'''push'* from the top downward. This understanding of 



24 The Youxg Mex's Cheistiax Association 

men and the wise leadership of subordinates are the real 
test of organization fitness. 

7. Sound Knowledge of the fundamentals of the indus- 
try and organization of which the executive is a part, 
and a knowledge of business of trade in their largest as- 
pects. ATanv executives are inefficient and get into all 
sorts of trouble because they are not properly trained in 
the business in which they are to issue and execute orders. 

8. Skill, which comes from the technique of practice 
and of business experience generally. 

9. Courtesy — ]\Ien and women are more and more 
grasping the business value of fair, courteous treatment. 
The response to the appeal to high ideals is definite, but 
discourteous treatment reaps unsatisfactory results. 

Industry awaits the administrator who shall be all that 
a gentleman should be : efficient but humane, adroit but 
honorable, a lover of his fellow-men as well as a leader 
of them: and who shall use his power with gentleness, 
and his wealth with imagination, and shall illuminate the 
world of private property with light from the far-away 
interest of the heart.'' 

Tlie Secretarial Bureaus Fifteen Points, The Secre- 
tarial Bureau suggests fifteen fundamental qualifications 
which to a greater or less extent should be possessed by a 
successful Secretary : 

1. Caliber — He should be a man of capacity for big 
things. 

2. Character — He must be strong and dependable. 

3. Personality — He should make an impression on 
others because of his virility and attractiveness. 

4. Religious Life — The religious life of the candidate 
should qualify according to the accepted Association stand- 
ards ^*in doctrine and life." 

5. Friendship — He must have the ability to win new 
friends readily and hold old friends firmly. 

6. Leadership — This should be demonstrated by his be- 



Am I Qualified ? 25 

ing naturally chosen to head up things and by others gen- 
erally following his lead. 

7. Executive Ability — He must be able to plan his 
work and work out his plans without losing sight of main 
issues in undue attention to details, he must be able to 
"get things done.'' 

8. Judgment — His judgment of men and situations 
must be sound and reliable. 

9. Initiative — This is expressed in the originality of 
his ideas and his ability to start things in spite of ob- 
stacles. 

10. Tact — This can be shown in the handling of deli- 
cate situations and in the discriminating dealing with all 
kinds of people. 

11. Team Work — He must not be an individualist but 
must be able to work cooperatively and comfortably with 
others. 

12. Health — He must have the physical basis for an 
exacting work that makes demands on a man's vitality 
and requires him to be practically always physically fit. 

13. Education — The minimum required is preparation 
for college entrance or its equivalent. Preferably he 
should be a college graduate. 

14. Unselfishness — He must be thoughtful for others, 
rather than for himself. The Association stands for 
friendly, unselfish service, and a selfish Secretary would 
be an Association anarchist. 

16. Humility — He must be teachable as he will have 
much to learn; an egotist is ofFensive to young men, and 
can hardly be expected to become a leader. 

"The prospective recruit should possess some of these 
fifteen essential qualifications in marked degree and should 
not be deficient in any of them. They are factors in the 
effective secretarial combination that have been proved 
indispensable to success in the Association work by years 
of experience and costly experimentation. 



26 The You:s'g Mex's Cheistian Association 

^^]\Ien about whom there is the least suggestion of moral 
delinquency, whether it takes the form of unreliability 
in financial matters, or reveals itself in some kind of sex 
weakness, even though high grade in other respects, should 
not be encouraged to enter the Association vocation. It 
is absolutely essential that an Association leader, because 
of his close association with boys and young men, should 
be morally above reproach." 

The Standards Adopted hy the Foreign Worh Depart- 
ment. The Foreign Work Department, as the missionary 
enterprise of the Association is termed, issued a statement 
that this department will only be able to use men with 
the following characteristics : 

Only those fitted to carry major responsibility; only 
those with good educational equipment equivalent to a 
complete college course; only those who can train native 
secretaries; only courteous men who can appreciate the 
viewpoint of a man of differing race ; only men who are 
willing to stay behind the scenes ; only balanced men, for 
each must be capable of working efficiently without Amer- 
ican associates. 

What Shall I Do? 

If after testing himself by these requirements a young 
man still desires to consider the Association calling as a 
life work, how shall he make his contacts ? There is al- 
ways opportunity for any man of known and adaptable 
capacity for achievement in the Secretarial ranks of the 
Young Men's Christian Association. If one is interested 
let him preferably talk with some Secretary he may know. 
If that is not possible, a letter asking for an appointment 
with the Secretary in your own or a neighboring city 
will doubtless bring a prompt reply. It were well also 
to correspond with the Secretarial Bureau of the Inter- 
national Committee. Correspondence with this Bureau, 
notwithstanding its efficiency, cannot take the place of a 



What Shall I Do? 27 

personal interview, and upon request the Bureau will en- 
deavor to arrange for interviews with some one com- 
petent to advise. 

While in the early days of the Association develop- 
ment many men (as in all new professions) entered the 
work with limited educational advantages, a greatly in- 
creased percentage of college men are now to he found 
in the Association ranks. The increased responsibility 
and corresponding prestige in the community make such 
training highly desirable, although not absolutely essen- 
tial. 

Following the general training, special graduate train- 
ing may well be taken at the technical Y. M. C. A. Col- 
leges ; the International Y. M. C. A. College, Springfield, 
Mass. ; the Young Men's Christian Association College, 
Chicago, 111., and the Southern College at ISTashville, Tenn. 
Here is to be found, in the best form, the technical in- 
formation developed by the Association Brotherhood. 
The courses lead to a Bachelor's Degree, yearly becoming 
clothed with greater dignity. If one is interested in secur- 
ing a Master of Arts, Bachelor of Divinity, or Doctor 
of Philosophy degree from one of the large Universities, 
the Y. M. C. A. Courses now being given at Yale Uni- 
versity may well be carefully investigated. If one has. 
only a High School course or its equivalent the Associa- 
tion Colleges at Chicago and Springfield are the schools 
to which one should apply, as the courses at the Southern 
College and Yale University are designed for graduate 
work. 

The majority of young men enter the Association work 
directly from business life. Just as the college man 
would find himself bewildered if suddenly thrust into the 
Business Administration of a large Association, so the 
man entering from business will find it puzzling, for a 
time at least, to find his footing. If, however, he feels 
the pull of the opportunity he need have no fear but that 
he will here find abundant chance for use of all his natural 



28 The Youxg Men's Cheistiax Association 

and acquired powers. His business training will doubt- 
less deter him from making an unwise change in voca- 
tion, and generally he can have the benefit of testing his 
leadership ability in the volunteer Committee service of 
the Association located in his home city. 

Whether he be either college or business man he should 
by all means attend one of the Association Summer 
Schools before assuming any large responsibility for Asso- 
ciation development. These Summer Schools, of which 
there are now nine in J^orth America, are unique devel- 
opments in the line of education for religious leadership ; 
they not only do much in the training of new men, but 
are invaluable aids in helping men already in service 
to keep abreast of the times in the ever expanding Asso- 
ciation movement. 

Certification. Owing to the fact that the Association 
profession is comparatively new, and that the demand is 
great for men to fill positions in the rapidly expanding 
program of the Association, a considerable number of men 
have been recruited who did not seem to be suited to the 
work of the Association. The Commission on Personnel 
of the Conference of the Association of Employed Officers, 
reporting at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, in June, 1921, re- 
ported on a plan of "Certification" which was unani- 
mously adopted and which has as its objective the apply- 
ing of higher standards for admission into the Association 
Brotherhood. 

This plan seeks to standardize the method by which 
an applicant should enter the Association work. It pro- 
vides that an application form be filled and filed with a 
representative of the Young Men's Christian Association, 
preferably a General Secretary. This application blank 
will then be forwarded to the State Personnel Committee. 
Confidential references will then be collected and addi- 
tional interviews held with the applicant by some one 
representing the State Personnel Committee. All material 
will then be assembled and reviewed by the Committee 



Conclusion 29 

and the application formally passed upon. Machinery is 
now being set up to operate this plan. 

Conclusion 

The Testimony of an Old Graduate. "To the man whose 
heart is on fire, whose head is cool, whose feet are steady 
and whose legs and arms are strong, the Association offers 
unquestioned opportunity," said a college man the other 
day. "Every man must pass through a period of decision 
if he is growing. In his ability to see clearly and choose 
courageously lies the kernel of his success. In the matter 
of a life work there appeared to me, for instance, two 
questions which had to be solved. The first one was 
between business and some sort of religious work. It 
was a hard fight. When the call to professional religious 
work won, the pendulum swung clear over and I reso- 
lutely cut loose from everything and tried to go to India. 
The pathway was barred and I found my place was in 
America, where I seemed to feel Christianity's great 
battleground was to be. Where, then, was the hardest 
task open to me in America ? This seemed to be among 
the men and boys in the great cities. Such information 
as I could then gather deepened this impression. An un- 
expected opening came. A patient Secretary helped me 
and from that day to this I have had soul satisfaction 
in my task. Never easy, always making me reach to 
attain, full of opportunities for service, presenting test- 
ing calls on physical endurance, abundant contacts with 
personalities whose largeness has been inspiring, service 
with an organization where can be found the largest pos- 
sible range for initiative and freedom. What more can 
this life hold out to any one?" 

And so to virile men of vision and daring, men of 
steady courage, sound common sense, good judgment, ini- 
tiative, imagination, wholesome personality, recognized 
leadership and dominating Christian faith the Macedonian 



30 The Young Men's Christian Association 

cry is again sent forth. Come on, young men and boys, 
and lend your hands and hearts to a cause where the 
sacrifices are genuine, and the compensating joys real, 
where your own growth can be purchased by unselfish 
service, and you can be sure of a grown man's chance at the 
world's great tasks! 



ADDENDA 

WHAT THINGS DOES A SECEETAEY DO? 

(Feom Training a Staff. By Paul Super) 

(By Permission) 

Arranges religious interviews. 

Accounts for money. 

Arranges medical and physical examinations. 

Assigns lockers. 

Attends staff conferences. 

Answers general public inquiries. 

Answers criticisms. 

Becomes personally acquainted with men. 
Balances the cash. 
Banks money. 

Collects fees. 

Conducts game rooms. 

Coordinates his work with others. 

Conducts committee meetings. 

Conducts lectures. 

Coaches committeemen. 

Coaches assistants. 

Conducts meetings. 

Conducts training classes. 

Conducts personal interviews on others' problems. 

Conducts foremen's meetings. 

Coaches assistants at desk. 

Carries on community service. 

Calls on sick men. 

Cultivates relationships with churches, schools, etc. 

Conducts shop meetings. 

31 



32 The Young Men's Cheistian Association 

Conducts financial campaigns. 
Cultivates friends for the Association, 
Conducts camps. 
Checks cash. 
Cooperates with pastors. 

Develops character by personal contact. 
Disburses money. 

Discovers, secures, trains group leaders. 
Determines educational policies. 
Devises physical education program. 
Dictates letters. 

Enrolls students. 
Employs instructors. 
Extends hospitality. 

Follows up students. 
Fraternizes with men. 
Formulates courses of study. 

Gets members. 

Gives information. 

Gets jobs for men. 

Gives vocational advice. 

Gives sex instruction. 

Gives information as to points of interest. 

Handles correspondence. 

Helps assimilate new members. 

Hires help. 

Helps on State and National Association affairs. 

Introduces men to churches. 
Inspects building. 
Inspects equipment and activities. 
Interviews prospective students. 
Is a boys' work expert. 
Interviews men. 



What Things Does a Secretary Do? 33 

Keeps abreast of times. 
Keeps rooms in an orderly shape. 
Keeps membership records. 
Keeps attendance records. 

Leads Bible classes. 

Locates men in living rooms. 

Leads hikes. 

Lends men money. 

Leads men into the Christian life. 

Leads singing. 

Locates and rectifies difficulties. 

Leads men to church membership. 

Learns people's names. 

Makes talks and speeches. 
Makes lobby attractive. 
Makes a budget. 
Makes surveys. 
Makes prospect lists. 
Makes daily reports. 
Makes entries in record books. 
Maintains a foreign work exhibit. 
Manages an office. 
Meets men. 

Maintains relation with settlements and charities. 
Maintains relations with Y. W. C. A., K. of C, C. S. Inc., 
Eed Cross, etc. 

Operates a building. 

Operates a restaurant and soda fountain. 

Operates a billiard room. 

Outlines and plans policies. 

Outlines business for committee meetings. 

Organizes Bible classes. 

Organizes athletic leagues. 

Organizes social clubs. 

Operates the 'phones. 

Organizes campaigns. 

Operates playgrounds. 

Organizes a laundry system. 



34 The Youij^g Men's Christian Association 

Promotes entertainments. 

Promotes hygienic living. 

Prepares publicity and arranges its distribution. 

Pacifies folks. 

Promotes a '^24 Hour a Day^^ Glub. 

Purchases books, supplies, etc. 

Promotes extension activities. 

Plans programs of activities. 

Promotes recreation. 

Promotes educational classes. 

Pays bills. 

Promotes shop socials. 

Promotes social programs. 

Posts dormitory payments and room assignments. 

Promotes physical work. 

Promotes reading-room activity. 

Eaises money. 
Euns a check room. 
Euns movies. 
Eeceives callers. 
Eecruits extra workers. 
Euns an orchestra. 
Eents rooms. 

Supervises work of others. 
Shows building. 
Sells books, money orders, etc. 
"Sells" Association features and activities. 
Studies reports. 
Studies for personal growth. 
Supervises classes. 
Solicits foreign work money. 
Studies his field. 
Studies the needs of men. 
Secures committee service. 
Sets up leagues and tournaments. 
Sells candy, stamps, postcards. 
Secures speakers. 

Secures and attends Boards of Directors and committee 
meetings. 



What Things Does a Secretary Do? 35 



Teaches men to play games. 

Trains teachers. 

Teaches thrift. 

Teaches men attitude toward job. 

Trains other secretaries. 

Takes membership applications. 

Ushers at meetings. 

Visits prisons. 

Works with committeemen. 

Writes manuals. 

Wins peoples to the purpose of the Association. 

Works up committees. 

Writes newspaper articles. 

Writes ads. 

Works through committeemen. 

Writes reports. 



A WEEK'S PROGRAM 

EEOULAE SCHEDULED EVENTS 
New Haven Y. M. C. A., March 7th to 14:TH, 1921 

MONDAY 

7:45 A.M. Family Altar, Allingtown "Y." 
8:30 Music Class, Allingtown "Y." 

9:00 Secretaries' Staff Conference, Central 'TT." 

11:00 Music Class, Allingtown "Y." 

12:00 Music Class, Allingtown "Y." 

Industrial Athletics at 18 Factories. 
Volley Ball, Hand Ball and Quoits at Winchester **¥." 
12:00- 1:00 Open Alleys at Winchester "Y." 
Pool, Winchester "Y." 

Cafeteria — Serving Meals — Winchester "Y." 
Americanization Class, Geometric Tool Co. 
Employes' Volley Ball Game, Allingtown "Y." 
Business Men's Gym Class, Central "Y." 
Commercial Hi-Y Inner Circle, Boys' Building, Cen- 
tral "Y." 
Hi-Y Basketball Practice, Central "Y." 
Hi-Y Swim, Central "Y." 
3:00- 5:00 West Haven High School Basketball Team, Alling- 
town "Y." 
4:00 Buzzer Class Wireless Club, Boys' Building, Cen- 

tral "Y." 
Junior Gym Class, Central "Y.'* 
Junior Swim, Central "Y." 

Physical Examination Appointments, Central "Y." 
Bowling, Schedule Game, Winchester "Y." 
Senior Eecreation Gym Class, Central *'Y." 
Training Conference, Americanization Teachers, Dwight 

Hall Yale "Y." 
Bible Study Supper, Central "Y." 
Bible Study under Leadership Rev. Maylott, Rail- 
road "Y." 
Advisory Service, Citizenship — Henry W. Stowell, City 

Court. 
Bible Class, Central "Y." 

Industrial Y. M. C. A. Athletic Federation Meeting, 
Yale Graduates' Club. 
36 



12:15 


P.M. 


12:15- 


1:15 


12:15- 


1:30 


1:30 




2:00- 


3:00 


3:00- 


3:30 



4: 


00- 


5: 


;00 


5; 


;00- 


5; 


;30 


5; 


:00- 


5: 


:45 


5 


: 30-10 


:00 


5: 


:45- 


7: 


;00 


6; 


;00 






6 


:00- 


6 


:45 


6 


:15 






6 


:45 






6 


:45- 


7 


:30 


7: 


00 







A Week's Program 3Y 

Two Teams Industrial Basketball, Allingtown "Y." 
7:00- 8:00 Senior Swimming and Life-Saving Club, Central "Y." 
Physical Examination Appointments, Central "Y." 
Employed Boys' Gym Class, Central "Y." 
7:00- 9:00 Vocational and Educational Interview Hours, Cen- 
tral "Y." 
7:15- 9:15 Pre-Engineering Mathematics Class, Northeastern Col- 
lege, Central "Y." 
7:15- 9:30 Freshman Engineering Mathematics, Northeastern Col- 
lege, Central "Y." 
Freshman Accounting, Northeastern College, School of 
Commerce and Finance, Central "Y." 
7:30 United Workers Boys' Club Aquatic Activities, Swim- 

ming Pool, Central "Y." 
Moving Pictures, "Elements of the Automobile," Rail- 
road "Y." 
Three Americanization Classes (Sargent and Com- 
pany), Edwards' Hall. 
Beginners' Americanization Class, Dwight Hall, 
Yale "Y." 
7:30- 9:30 Architectural Drafting, Building Tradesmen, North- 
eastern College, Central "Y." 
7:30-10:00 Girls' and Seniors' Basketball, Winchester "Y"— Cen- 
tral "Y." 
7:45 Hustlers and Apaches Group Club Meetings, Boys' 

Building, Central "Y." 
Girls' Industrial Basketball Meeting of Representa- 
tives, Central "Y." 
8:00 Olympics Group Club Meeting, Foote Boys' Club. 

Bowling League (Telephone Dept.), Railroad "Y." 
8:00- 8:30 Employed Boys' Swim, Central "Y." 
8:00- 9:00 Intermediate Employed Boys' Gym Class, Central "Y." 
Two Teams Industrial Basketball League, Ailing- 
town "Y." 
9:00- 9:30 Intermediate Employed Boys' Game Period, Cen- 
tral "Y." 
9:30- 9:45 Intermediate Employed Boys' Swim, Central "Y." 

TUESDAY 

7:45 A.M. Family Altar, Allingtown "Y." 
8:30 Music Class, Allingtown "Y." 

11:00 Music Class, Allingtown "Y." 

11:00-12:00 Professional Men's Gym Class, Central "Y." 
12:00 Volley Ball, Hand Ball and Quoits in Winchester "Y." 

Music Class, Allingtown "Y." 

Noon-Hour Bowling League, Hoggson & Pettis. 
12:00- 1:00 Cafeteria— Serving Meals— Winchester "Y." 
12:15 Americanization Class, Geometric Tool Co. 

Executive Committee Industrial Recreation Meeting, 
Yale Graduates' Club. 



38 The Young Men's Christian Association 

12:15- 1:15 Employes' Volley Ball, Allingtown "Y." 
2:00- 6:00 Reception, Women's Auxiliary, Sons of Veterans, Al- 
lingtown "Y." 
2:30- 3:00 Intermediate Leaders' Club, Central "Y.'* 
3:00- 4:00 Intermediate Gym Class, Central "Y." 
4:00- 4:30 Intermediate Swim, Central "Y." 
5:00- 5:30 Physical Examination Appointments. 
5:30-10:00 Bowling Schedule Games, Winchester "Y." 
5:45 Bowling League (Operating Dept. ), Eight Teams, 

Railroad "Y." 
6:00 Girls' Bowling, Acme Wire Co. vs. S. N. T. Tel. Co., 

Winchester "Y." 
6:30- 8:00 Orchestra Practice, Allingtown "Y." 
7:00- 7:15 Senior Leaders' Bible Class, Central "Y." 
7:00- 9:00 Vocational and Educational Interview Hours, Cen- 
tral "Y." 
7:15 Basketball, High School Gym (Girls' League): 

1 — Kolynos Co. vs. Acme Wire Co. 
2 — Geometric Tool vs. Berger Bros. 
3 — All-Star Industrial Team vs. Middletown All- 
Stars. 
7:15- 7:35 Senior Leaders' Gym Class, Central "Y." 
7:15- 9:30 Northeastern Preparatory School Classes in Algebra, 
Geometry, English, French, Bookkeeping and Me- 
chanical Drawing, Central "Y." 
7:30 Three Americanization Classes (Sperry & Barnes and 

Mixed Groups), Edwards' Hall. 
Advanced Americanization Class, Dwight Hall, 

Yale "Y." 
Intermediate Americanization Class, Byer's Hall, 

Yale "Y." 
Circolo Campagnia (Americanization), 137 Goffe 

Street. 
Italian-American Club (Americanization), Dixwell 
and Pine. 
7:30- 9:30 Senior Graded Gym Class, Central "Y." 

Freshman Engineering, Mechanical Drawing, North- 
eastern College, Central "Y." 
7:30-10.00 Basketball, Winchester "Y." 

8:00 Palmer Hills Group Club Meeting, E. B. Foote Boys' 

Club. 
Graduate Basketball Practice, E. B. Foote Boys' Club. 
Bowling League ( Interdepartment League), Eight 

Teams, Railroad "Y." 
Basketball — Preliminary Game — Railroad "Y" — (Win- 
chester Girls vs. Railroad Y. M. C. A. Girls). 
Men's Bowling — Hoggson & Pettis vs. Sargents — 
Winchester "Y." 
9:00 Basketball— Hartford Div. Supt.'s Office vs. New 

Haven Div. Supt.'s Office— Railroad "Y." 
9:30-10:00 Senior Swimming, Central "Y." 



A Week's Program 39 

10:00 Social, Music, Eefreshments, Railroad "Y." 

Visiting Ladies' Bowling, Railroad "Y." 
All-Day Workers' Meeting Y. M. C. A. Ladies' Aux- 
iliary, Central "Y." 



WEDNESDAY 

7:45 A.M. Family Altar, Allingtown "Y." 
8:30 Music Class, Allingtown *'Y." 

9:30-10:30 Physical Department Conference, Central "Y." 
11:00 Music Class, Allingtown "Y." 

12:00- 1:00 Cafeteria— Serving Meals — Winchester "Y." 
12:00 Music Class, Allingtown "Y." 

Band Concert in Lobby, Winchester "Y." 
Monthly Meeting of Board of Management, Secretary's 
Office, Railroad "Y." 
12:15 P.M. Americanization Class, Geometric Tool Company. 
12:15- 1:15 Employes' Volley Ball, Allingtown "Y." 
2:30- 4:00 Intermediate Leaders' Club, Central "Y." 
4:00 United Workers Boys' Club, Aquatic Activities in 

Swimming Pool, Central "Y." 
4:00- 5:30 Junior Leaders' Club, Central "Y." 
4:30 Meeting Stamp Club, Central "Y." 

5:30-10:00 Bowling Schedule Games, Winchester "Y." 
6:45 Bowling League (Operating Dept. ), Railroad "Y." 

5:00- 6:30 Business Men's Volley Ball, Central "Y." 
6:00 Commercial Hi-Y Club Meeting, Central "Y." 

Girls' Bowling: 

Sperry & Barnes Co. vs. L. Candee Co., Algonquin 

Alleys. 
Greist Mfg. Co. vs. Seamless Rubber Co., Algonquin 

Alleys. 
Berger Bros. vs. Winchesters, Republican Alleys. 
6:00- 7:00 Volley Ball— Winchester "Y" vs. Central *'Y" Busi- 
ness Men. 
Freshman Business Law, School of Commerce and 

Finance, Northeastern College, Central "Y." 
Machine Design Class, School of Engineering, North- 
eastern College, Central "Y." 
Three Americanization Classes (Sargent's), Edwards* 

Hall. 
Beginners* Americanization Class, Dwight Hall, 

Yale "Y." 
Basketball, Winchester "Y." 
7:45 Industrial Night, Central "Y." 

Basketball : 

Winchester Co. vs. Seamless Rubber Co. 
Acme Wire Co. vs. Westinghouse Co. 
Forsythe Dye Co. vs. Berger Bros. 
New Haven Clock Co. vs. S. N. E. Telephone Co. 



7:15- 9; 


;00 


7:15- 9; 


:15 


7:30 




7:30-10 


:00 



iO The Young Men's Cheistian Association 

8:00 Moran Group Club Meeting, Foote Boys' Club. 

Men's Bowling: 

Acme Wire Co. vs. Winchester R. A. Co. at Algon- 
quin Alleys. 
Greist Mfg. Co. vs. Seamless Rubber Co. at Repub- 
lican Alleys. 
Whitney Blake Co. vs. L. Candee Co. at Repub- 
lican Alleys. 
Geometric Tool Co. vs. New Haven Clock Co. 
Northeastern College School of Engineering Committee 
Meeting, Central "Y." 
8:45 Swimming and Life-Saving Class, Instruction for In- 

dustrial Men, Central "Y." 
Allingtown "Y" Entertainment Night at Red Cross 
Hut. 

THURSDAY 



7:45 A.M. Family Altar, Allingtown "Y." 
11:00 Music Class, Allingtown "Y." 

12:00 Music Class, Allingtown "Y." 

Noon-Hour Bowling League, Hoggson & Pettis. 
Indoor Baseball, Winchester "Y." 
12:00- 1:00 Caleteria — Serving Meals — Winchester "Y." 
12:15- 1:15 Employes' Volley Ball, Allingtown "Y." 
12:15 Americanization Class, Geometric Tool Co. 

12:15- 1:30 Business Men's Gym Class, Central "Y." 
1:00 Training Class for Interviewers, Central "Y." 

4:00 Basketball Game, E. B. Foote Juniors vs. Lowell 

House, at United Workers' Gym. 
4:00- 5:00 Junior Gym Class, Central "Y." 
4:30 Industrial Track Meet Committee at Yale Graduates 

Club. 
5:00 Staff Conference, Industrial Dept., Central "Y." 

5:00- 5:30 Junior Swim, Central "Y." 

5:00- 5:45 Physical Examination Appointments, Central "Y." 
5:30-10:00 Bowling Schedule Game, Winchester *'Y." 
5:45- 7:00 Senior Recreation Gym Class, Central "Y." 
5:45- 7:30 Ladies' Bowling, Railroad "Y." 
6:30 Fellowshi Supper, Central "Y." 

7:00 Girls' Basketball, Allingtown "Y": 

Edw. Malley Co. vs. Kolynos Co. 
Acme Wire Co. vs. Geometric Tool Co. 
7:00- 8:00 Employed Boys' Gym Class at Central "Y." 

Senior Swimming and Life-Saving Club, Central "Y." 
Physical Examinations, Central "Y." 
7:00- 9:00 Personal Interviews, Central *'Y." 

Vocational and Educational Interview Hours, Edu- 
cational Dept. OflEice, Central "Y." 
7:15- 9:30 Freshman Engineering Mathematics, Northeastern Col- 
lege, Central "Y." 
Pre-Engineering Preparatory Class, Central "Y." 



A Week's Peogeam 41 

7:30- 9:30 Railroad "Y" Basketball at Winchester "Y." 
7:30 Three Americanization Classes (Sperry & Barnes and 

Mixed Groups), Edwards' Hall. 
Advanced Americanization Class, Dwight Hall, 

Yale "Y." 
Intermediate Americanization Class, Byer's Hall, 

Yale "Y." 
Circolo Campagnia (Americanization), 137 Goffe Street. 
Italian- American Club (Americanization), Dixwell and 
Pine. 
7:30-10:00 Basketball, Winchester "Y." 

8:00 Victor Group Club Meeting, E. B. Foote Boys' Club. 

Ladies' Basketball, Railroad "Y." 

Men's Bowling at Algonquin Alleys — Westinghouse 
Co. vs. Forsythe Dye Co. 
8:00- 9:00 Intermediate Employed Boys' Gym Class, Central "Y." 
8:00- 8:30 Employed Boys' Swim Central "Y." 
8:00- 9:30 Class in Foremanship at Central "Y." 
8:30 Training Conference, Americanization Workers, led 

by Miss Rose O'Toole, Americanization Supervisor, 
U. S. Rubber Co. 
9:00- 9:30 Intermediate Employed Boys' Swim, Central "Y." 



FRIDAY 

7:45 A.M. Family Altar, Allingtown "Y." 

8:30 Music Class, Allingtown "Y." 

9:15 Secretaries' Devotional Conference, Central "Y." 

11:00 Music Class, Allingtown "Y." 

11:00-12:00 Professional Men's Gym Class, Central "Y." 
12:00 Music Class, Allingtown "Y." 

12:00- 1:00 Cafeteria— Serving Meals— Winchester "Y." 
12:15- 1:15 Employes' Volley Ball, Allingtown "Y." 

1:30 Freshman Hi-Y Meeting, Central "Y." 

2:30- 3:00 Intermediate Leaders' Club Practice, Central "Y." 

3:00- 5:00 West Haven High School Basketball Team, Alling- 
town "Y." 

4:00 Parents' Day, Central "Y." 

5:00- 5:30 Physical Examinations, Central "Y." 

5:30 Hi-Y Club Meeting, Central "Y." 

5:30- 7:30 Business Men's Gym Class and Volley Ball, Cen- 
tral "Y." 

5:30-10:00 Bowling Schedule Game, Winchester "Y." 

6:00- 7:00 Bible Class, Allingtown "Y." 

6:15 Boys' Bean Supper, Central "Y.'* 

7:00 A. S. P. Group Club Meeting, Central "Y." 

Girls' Industrial All-Star Basketball Team Practice at 
Allingtown "Y." 

7:00- 7:30 Business Men's Club Committee Meeting, Central "Y." 

7:00- 8:00 Personal Interviews, Central "Y." 



^2 The Young Men's Christian Association 

7:15- 9:30 Northeastern Preparatory School Classes in Algebra, 
Geometry, English, French, Bookkeeping, Me- 
chanical Drawing, Central "Y." 
7:30 Citizenship Lecture for Second-Paper Men — H. W. 

Stowell, City Court. 
Parlor Athletic Meet Social, Central "Y," Boys' 

Division. 
Wireless Club Meeting, Central "Y." 
7:30- 9:30 Senior Graded Gym Class, Central "Y." 

Freshman Mechanical Drawing, Northeastern College 
Evening School of Engineering, Central "Y." 
7:30-10:00 Basketball — Girls' and Church Leagues — Winches- 
ter "Y." 
8:00 Men's Bowling, Elite Alleys: 

Acme Wire Co. vs. L. Candee Co. 
Westinghouse Co. vs. N. H. Clock Co. 
Bowling ( Interdepartment League), Eight Teams 

Railroad "Y." 
Interdepartment Basketball, Railroad "Y." 
Iroquois Group Club Meeting, Foote Boys' Club. 
Blue Hawk Group Club Meeting, Foote Boys' Club. 
Basketball Game — Victors, Foote Boys' Club, vs. 
Maples Juniors, Music Hall. 
9:30-10:00 Senior Swimming, Central "Y." 

SATURDAY 

7:45 A.M. Family Altar, Allingtown "Y." 

8:30 Music Class, Allingtown "Y." 

9:00-10:00 Junior Gym Class, Central "Y." 

10:00-10:30 Junior Swim, Central "Y." 

10:00-11:00 Intermediate Gym Class, Central "Y." 

11:00 Music Class, Allingtown "Y." 

11:00-11:30 Intermediate Swim, Central "Y." 

12:00 Music Class, Allingtown "Y." 

12:00- 1:00 Cafeteria — Serving Meals — Winchester "Y.'* 

12:15- 1:15 Employes' Volley Ball, Allingtown "Y." 

1:30 Hike to Wintergreen Falls (Boys' Division, Cen- 
tral "Y.") 

2:00 Interdepartment Basketball, Railroad "Y." 

2:00- 4:00 Business Men's Volley Ball, Central "Y." 

2:00- 6:00 Senior Recreation and Games Period, Central "Y." 

2:00- 7:00 Senior and Business Swimming, Central "Y." 

3:00- 5:00 West Haven High School Basketball Team, Alling- 
town "Y." 

3:00- 6:00 Business Men's Volley Ball Tournament at Green- 
wich, Conn. 

4:00- 5:00 Railroad Basketball Game at Allingtown "Y." 

5:00- 5:30 Int. Employed Boys' Swim, Central "Y." 

6:00- 8:00 E. B. Foote Boys' Club Gym Class, Central "Y." 

7:00- 9:00 Reception, New Haven Masons, Allingtown "Y." 



A Week's Peogeam 43 

7:30-10:00 Basketball, Winchester "Y." 

8:00 Athletic Rally, Interchurch Older Boys' Federation, 

Central "Y." 

8:00- 8:30 E. B. Foote Boys' Club Aquatic Activities, Cen- 
tral "Y." 

SUNDAY 

7:45 A.M. Family Altar, Allingtown "Y." 

9:00-10:15 Bible Class, Allingtown "Y." 

3:00 P.M. Mass Meeting for Men at Central "Y." Address by 

Dr. G. Sherwood Eddy. 
6:00- 7:00 Sunday Evening Service at Allingtown "Y." 
7:00- 9:00 Reception, Woman's Auxiliary, at Allingtown "Y." 
Visitation of Foreign-Speaking Clubs "Y" Secretaries. 



AVAILABLE LITEEATUEE 0:^" THE ASSOCIATION" 

VOCATION 

Association Press, New York City 

1. A Significant Life Calling. 

2. Manhood Engineering. 

3. The County Work. 

4. Building Manhood. 

5. A Career in Christian Education. 

6. The Eeligious Work Specialists of the Y. M. C. A. 

7. Community Work. 

8. Industrial Work. 

9. Physical Work. 

10. The Fellowship Plan. 

11. The Association Secretaryship. 

12. Eecruiting by Interview. 

13. Personal Qualifications for the Successful Association 

Employed Officer. 

14. Training of a Staff. 



44 



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